OREANDA-NEWS. July 19, 2010. UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium producer and owner of a 25% stake in MMC Norilsk Nickel, announces that Norilsk Nickel’s management has refused to provide UC RUSAL with voting papers from the Annual General Meeting that took place on 28 June, in violation of Article 91 of the Russian Federal Law on Joint Stock Companies.

RUSAL in accordance with Article 91 of the Federal Law on Joint Stock Companies, sent a formal request to the General Director of Norilsk Nickel asking that they provide the AGM voting papers, so that RUSAL could examine them in detail for evidence of wrong-doing. According to Article 91, copies of the voting papers must be provided within seven days of such a request. After the seven days expired, RUSAL received a letter from the corporate secretary of Norilsk Nickel stating that copies of the voting papers would be provided in two days.

Nine days after submitting its request, RUSAL received a letter from Norilsk Nickel claiming that the voting papers had been transferred to the Federal Committee on the Securities Market (FCSM) without any explanation of why the requested copies had not been made.

RUSAL believes that the request sent by Norilsk Nickel to the FCSM asking to examine the results of the annual general meeting was initiated by the MMC in order to prevent RUSAL from receiving copies of the voting papers. RUSAL has already announced that we have evidence indicating a serious breach of the voting procedures. We believe that this will be verified during the examination of the completed voting papers. We hope that the FCSM will carry out a detailed examination of the voting papers because Norilsk Nickel must have serious reasons to conceal the information about the voting procedure breaching the period of providing the copies determined by the legislation and then refuse to provide them to RUSAL. 

We believe that the irresponsible behaviour the management of Norilsk Nickel has been demonstrating for the last several months is a serious breach of public company governance and puts all shareholders of Norilsk Nickel at serious risk, as it can lead to the decrease of the company value and negatively influence both its reputation, financial and production results.

RUSAL will use all legal measures to defend its interests as a shareholder of Norilsk Nickel and the interests of all other shareholders of Norilsk Nickel. If the examination of the voting papers reveals sufficient evidence, the Company intends to file a lawsuit against the management of Norilsk Nickel. We also plan to involve international expert organisations to carry out a thorough audit of all major aspects of the company’s activities and, unlike MMC Norilsk Nickel, will make this process transparent and public.