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Court delays sale of 2% stake in Norilsk Nickel amid shareholder standoff

A London court delayed the sale of a 2% stake in Russian mining giant PJSC Norilsk Nickel Co. by Roman Abramovich's Crispian Investment Ltd. to billionaire Vladimir Potanin's Whiteleave Holdings Ltd.

Potanin holds a 30% stake in Norilsk. Oleg Deripaska, the billionaire owner of United Co. Rusal Plc who has a 28% stake in Norilsk, has sought to prevent him from upping his stake in the company.

At a court hearing in London on Feb. 27, the parties agreed to a consent order stipulating that Whiteleave will not purchase the 2% stake from Crispian until after a court hearing scheduled for March 8-9.

Rusal believes that under a previous shareholder agreement, Crispian is not entitled to sell its share in this way, the company said Feb. 27.

Deripaska and Potanin entered into a shareholder agreement in 2012 to end a quarrel over the controlling stake in Norilsk Nickel, whereby Crispian was brought in as a minority shareholder to keep the peace.

The agreement included a lock-in period during which the three parties were not allowed to sell their shares. The lock-in period expired at the end of 2017, prompting Abramovich to offer up his stake for sale, reigniting the shareholder dispute.

Rusal said the agreement also regulates the manner in which each of the three investors can dispose of their shares in Norilsk and reiterated that the proposed sale to Potanin is invalid. In the case of a possible court ruling that Rusal's claims are invalid and caused losses for Whiteleave and Crispian, the Russian aluminum giant will lodge US$8 million with its counsel of record.

Rusal previously proposed the activation of a "shoot out" protocol, by which either party can buy out the other's stake "at a price not less than the six-month weighted average price of the shares of Norilsk Nickel."