Maxim Sokov is to replace Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska as president of En+ Group plc.

Vladislav Solovyev, current CEO of Russia's largest aluminum producer United Co. Rusal Plc, will be appointed to the CEO post at EN+, according to a Feb. 23 release. Deripaska was redesignated as a nonexecutive director.

All of the board changes will come into effect as of March 15. EN+ also said it has no plan or intention to pursue an equity offering to the market in 2018, dismissing reports about a follow-on offering of securities.

Rusal released a parallel statement also announcing Deripaska's resignation as president and the appointment of CFO Alexandra Bouriko to the CEO post.

The statements confirm earlier reports that the billionaire tycoon was preparing to relinquish his position as president of the two companies.

A report by Russian newspaper Kommersant said that Deripaska wants to take a step back from management of the two Russian industrial giants and focus on developing other assets, particularly the GAZ automotive group. The Russian government denied that Deripaska's resignation was somehow linked to his inclusion in the Kremlin list published by Washington at the end of January.

Kirill Chuyko, head of equity research and metals and mining at BCS Global Markets, echoed this in an interview, saying that this was completely irrelevant, considering that there had has been a lot of reshuffling in Russian metals and mining companies recently.