The Moscow Arbitration Court upheld today Onexim Group President Mikhail Prokhorov and invalidated the resolution of KM Invest BOD on the disposal of 2 percent in GMK Norilsk Nickel and 7.4 percent in Polus Zoloto.
Photo: Alexander Paniotov
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Prokhorov Wins First Round for Norilsk Nickel
The Moscow Arbitration Court upheld today Onexim Group President Mikhail Prokhorov and invalidated the resolution of KM Invest BOD on the disposal of 2 percent in GMK Norilsk Nickel and 7.4 percent in Polus Zoloto, Interfax.ru reported. KM Invest has a month to appeal the resolution.
The decision could materially affect the divorce of former partners – Mikhail Prokhorov and Vladimir Potanin. The matter at stake is 2 percent in Norilsk Nickel that may tip the scale in favor of one of contesting parties and set into motion the historical split of the company, which capitalization is estimated at $55 billion.
By hearsay, Prokhorov consolidated a blocking stake in Norilsk Nickel and agreed to pass it to UC Rusal co-owner Oleg Deripaska for 11 percent in UC Rusal and some money.
In early February, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service sanctioned the buyout of 29 percent in Norilsk Nickel from Mikhail Prokhorov (with his stake in KM Invest taken into account). In line with formal requirements, Prokhorov first offered the stake to Potanin for $15.7 billion but Interros failed to collect the huge amount in the heat of liquidity crisis.
In return, Potanin attracted powerful Alisher Usmanov along with his Metalloinvest holding. According to some media, the businessmen managed to consolidate roughly 30 percent in Norilsk Nickel and are able to block its hostile takeover by Deripaska.
But those could be only the rumors, while the bare facts are that KM Invest is still the owner of 8 percent, and each percent of the stake matters now. Anyway, the December decision of the company’s BOD to sell 2 percent in Norilsk Nickel alarmed Prokhorov to the extent that sufficed to make him go to law and challenge the resolution in the Moscow Arbitration Court.
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