Vedomosti: Deripaska to axe Rusal shareholders agreement in bid for sanctions relief
Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska may axe an agreement between Rusal vestedshareholders,
a move requested by the US authorities to pull the aluminum producer out of sanctions, Vedomosti business daily reports citing sources.
Breaking off the agreement is the only way out of the current situation, the paper’s sources said, adding that the businessman sees no other chance to save the company.
Meanwhile, EN+ has not yet offered up the cancellation of a shareholder agreement to minority shareholders so far, one of the sources said, adding that no reorganization proposals have been put on the table either.
According to the deal, EN+ is
considered to be the controlling shareholder of the company as long as its share exceeds 40% (currently it equals 48.1%). Initially, the document was meant to protect the rights of minority shareholders, a person close to one of the company’s co-owners said and which another source confirmed.
The agreement between En+, Glencore and Sual Partners of Victor Vekselberg and Leonard Blavatnik was signed when Rusal was set up in 2007. Back then, the partners merged their assets in the aluminum industry as En+ contributed Rusal, Sual Parterns - Sual, and Glencore - aluminum and metal plants in non-CIS countries.
Tertychny Agabalyan’s Ivan Tertychny considers the termination of the shareholder agreement to be a serious argument for En+ and Rusal in the discussion with the US Treasury. However, it does not guarantee an automatic exit from the sanctions, the expert adds.
"When making a decision, the US Treasury will take into account not only the judicial aspects of the shareholder agreement, but matter-of-fact aspects as well - how and who makes decisions for company’s management," he explained.
Moreover, Rusal was slapped with sanctions as an independent company, not as a subsidiary of En+, which means it may be not enough to terminate the shareholder agreement where EN+ is defined as a controlling shareholder, in order to get out of the sanctions list, Tertychny told Vedomosti.
Source: TASS
http://tass.com/pressreview/1006956
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