Norilsk Nickel did not change the chairman of the board of directors

Members of the board of directors of Norilsk Nickel at a meeting on March 13 did not change the chairman of the board of directors and rejected the proposal of Rusal (owns 26.39% of Norilsk Nickel) to appoint an independent director to this place. This was reported to Vedomosti by a representative of Rusal.

“Unfortunately, the course to increase the role of independent directors, outlined by one of the shareholders, did not receive a qualitative continuation and, in fact, remains only a declaration,” he said.

According to information RBCagainst the proposal to change the chairman of the board of directors (now this position is held by Andrey Bugrov from Interros, she owns 37% of Norilsk Nickel) voted 8 out of 13 directors.

Bugrov from 2013 to 2022 was vice president of Interros. As chairman of the board of directors of Norilsk Nickel, he replaced independent director Gareth Penny, who worked in this position for 9 years and in March 2022 decided to leave the board of directors of the company against the backdrop of the start of a special operation and increased Western sanctions. It was reported that in early MarchRusal» spoke for the change of the chairman of the board of directors of Norilsk Nickel and proposed the appointment of an independent non-executive director of Rusal, Yevgeny Shvarts, to this position.

36.14% of Norilsk Nickel is owned by Vladimir Potanin’s Interros, another 26.39% is owned by UC Rusal. UC Rusal bought a 25% stake in Norilsk Nickel in 2008 from businessman Mikhail Prokhorov. Because of this deal, the first conflict between Potanin and the founder of UC Rusal, Oleg Deripaska, occurred. He dealt with approaches to paying dividends, actions with non-core assets of Norilsk Nickel and the nuances of corporate governance. In 2012, the parties signed a ten-year shareholder agreement, which fixed the main terms of the shareholders’ relationship, in particular, the payment of dividends.