Valentin Yumashev may become an arbiter in the dispute between Potanin and Deripaska

The former head of Boris Yeltsin’s administration and Oleg Deripaska’s father-in-law, Valentin Yumashev , can act as a peacemaker in the dispute between the two main shareholders of Norilsk Nickel: Vladimir Potanin’s Interros and Oleg Deripaska’s UC Rusal, which own 30.4% and 27.8% of the shares, respectively.

• Now the referee is Roman Abramovich. Yumashev may replace him if the share of Abramovich’s structures in Norilsk Nickel falls below 1%. Such a role for Yumashev was provided for in the shareholder agreement that the co-owners of Norilsk Nickel concluded in 2012, Vedomosti sources say.
• Whether Yumashev will receive a stake in Norilsk Nickel is unknown.
• It was Yumashev who proposed Abramovich as an arbitrator in 2012, Forbes wrote then.
• Abramovich, together with his Evraz partner Alexander Abramov, own 6.5% of Norilsk Nickel shares worth about $2 billion. Of this stake, the partners control about 4.2% through the company Crispian Investments. In early February, Potanin’s Interros offered Crispian to sell him its stake in Norilsk Nickel. UC Rusal immediately attempted to block this deal in court in London.
• Today it became known that Potanin warned the London court that Deripaska would not be able to cover the losses that may arise due to the delay in the deal (Interros estimated them at $500 million), due to possible US sanctions.
• If the parties do not agree on mutually beneficial terms of the deal, Deripaska is ready to launch the “Russian roulette” mechanism at Norilsk Nickel, provided for in the shareholder agreement, and offer Potanin to buy out his shares for $10.8-13.9 billion. “Russian roulette” (shoot out) , in essence, is a forced auction. If one of the partners offers the second to buy out his package, he either agrees or offers a higher price for the first’s package - until one of the two accepts the offer.
• The signing of the 2012 shareholders' agreement was preceded by two years of bitter legal disputes between Potanin and Deripaska. German Gref and Alisher Usmanov tried to reconcile the co-owners of the company, but Roman Abramovich eventually managed to resolve the conflict.

Anastasia Stogney