Nicolas Sarkozy broke up a couple

Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov decided to divide their joint business

Perhaps the most scandalous event of the past year was the collapse of one of the largest and most durable Russian tandems - the multibillion-dollar empire of Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov. The “divorce” of the two former partners began immediately after last New Year, which businessmen traditionally celebrated in Courchevel, France, Mr. Prokhorov was detained during a raid by the French police to combat prostitution. He was placed in a prison in the city of Lyon, and three days later he was released without being charged. Leaving the prison building, as TV channels showed, Mr. Prokhorov said only one phrase: “Sarkozy (French President Nicolas Sarkozy was then Minister of Internal Affairs - Ed. ), you owe me.” Even then, in Courchevel, the former partners practically did not communicate with each other and spent their evenings (Mr. Potanin had a birthday) in different restaurants. And the process of dividing the business, which was officially announced in the spring, accompanied by constant scandals, became like a cheap soap opera.

The toughest fight broke out around the largest company of entrepreneurs - the world producer of palladium and nickel, MMC Norilsk Nickel, worth almost $50 billion. Mr. Potanin directly owns 25.3% of the company's shares, Mr. Prokhorov - 28.2% of the shares. , another 8.1% of the shares are in the KM Invest fund, which is owned by entrepreneurs on a parity basis. According to the initial agreements, it was assumed that this asset would go to Mr. Potanin, and energy assets and hydrogen projects would go to Mr. Prokhorov. However, the situation changed when a contender loyal to the Kremlin appeared at Norilsk Nickel - the main co-owner of the merged company RUSAL Oleg Deripaska (as they say in his circle, he was dissatisfied with the fact that his company, after the merger of Rio Tinto and Alcan, became the second largest in the world, and was ready to return her to first place).

As a result, Mr. Prokhorov presented Mr. Potanin with a fairly tough offer to buy out his share. For 25% plus one share of Norilsk Nickel, he demanded $15.7 billion with the condition that the deal must be paid only in cash within 45 days. At the same time, Mr. Prokhorov signed an agreement with RUSAL, to which, in case of Mr. Potanin’s refusal, he offered more attractive conditions: Mr. Deripaska had to pay for a similar stake in Norilsk Nickel with 11% of RUSAL shares and in money - in total, according to the source “ Vremya Novostei”, $12.7 billion. It is clear that Mr. Potanin was not ready to overpay for the package, so his representatives noted that they did not consider Mr. Prokhorov’s offer as a real offer, but assessed it only as a kind of PR move. Last week, when the offer deadline approached, Mr. Potanin did not accept it, and RUSAL and Mr. Prokhorov’s Onexim announced the start of the deal.

If Messrs. Nothing will stop Prokhorov and Deripaska; the new partners intend to create a new global-scale mining and metallurgical company with a capitalization of more than $100 billion on the basis of Norilsk Nickel and RUSAL. “Our company will be one of the five largest global metallurgical giants,” the general director announced with pathos RUSAL Alexander Bulygin. “This deal is dictated by the logic of the development of the global mining and metallurgical industry.”

However, it is not yet clear whether Mr. Potanin will participate in this process. Judging by his initial statements, he is not against combining the efforts of Norilsk Nickel and RUSAL: “Such a combination would be very interesting. A larger company will have greater opportunities to finance its projects. It will have great potential for further transnational mergers and acquisitions.” In his opinion, the more expensive the company, the more room for maneuver its Russian shareholders will have in the field of acquisitions abroad: their share, even in large transactions, will remain controlling, which is in line with current government policy. The only question today is who will be given the palm in the new company. According to some reports, the authorities are in no hurry to exclude Mr. Potanin from the game: after all, he is one of the largest and most stable oligarchs, under whom the company operates quite productively, bringing significant income to both the regional and federal budgets.

Irina TSYRULEVA, Natalya ROMANOVA, Nikolay KOCHELYAGIN, Alexey GRIVACH, Nikolay GORELOV, Andrey DENISOV