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Saturday, 23.04.2011
Phantom negotiations between Deripaska and Potanin
Norilsk. Billionaire Oleg Deripaska regrets, that the 'personal' negotiations between himself and Vladimir Potanin, about the future of Norilsk Nickel, have failed. However Potanin knows nothing about these negotiations.
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"We held negotiations, I personally met with Potanin", explaained Deripaska on Wednesday in front of selected journalists. According to him, the negotiations had failed; Interros had taken a' wait and see' attitude and want to wait for the arbitration court's decision over the dispute on violation of shareholder rights.
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Deripaska accused of lying
His opponents does not know anything about negotiations: "With yesterday's statement, our collegues from Rusal are trying to give the impression, that they had been in negotiations with Interros". We do not know of any such peaceful negotiations on part of Rusal, denied Interros press office immediately after Deripaska's statement.
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However, why is the billionaire spreading such rumours? Finam-analyst Vladimir Sergijevski told Russia News, he feels that these are speculations on part of Rusal. The company is trying to give the impression that one is working on a peaceful solution of the problem and is close in resolving it.
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No close contacts between the parties
There are of course some sort of discussions behind the scenes, but they are not as close as Rusal is stating, the analyst suggested.
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The conflict between the two billionaires has been going on since 2008, at Deripaska's surprise entry of Norislk Nickel. The dispute is primarily over the dividend policy within the Group: "The only thing that Deripaska needs from Norislk Nickel is high dividends in order to settle the high Rusla debts, recalls Sergijevski.
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Dividends to repay debts are necessary
Although Rusal was able to half its debts after the crisis, but debts of around €10 billion still weigh heavily on the group.
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Potantin has no wish to settle his opponent's debts. The recently introduced Norilsk Nickel share buy back program is therefore lucrative for the minority shareholders who are able to sell their shares at a surcharge. However, this policy brings no gain for Deripaska.
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Shaky alliance with Usmanov is not enough
Therefore he tries with all his powers to get the control over the group. Most recently he was able to form a tactical alliance with Alisher Usmanov. Peter Szopo, Chief analyst of Alfabank, however, not convinced of the strength of this alliance. Usmanov is merely interested in cashing in a high as possible premium for his four percent stake in Norilsk Nickel, according Szopo.
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The alliance will however not last until the upcoming shareholder's meeting in June. The Norilsk Nickel management and Interros currently hold far more votes than the Deripaska's and Usmanov's side, says Sergijevski.
Original German text can be found here >>>
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