Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg began to conflict by Rusal almost immediately after the creation of a united company. The next round of this oligarchic battle will take place in the Kaliningrad arbitration.
Viktor Vekselberg’s “SUAL Partners” filed a lawsuit against the Arbitration Court of the Kaliningrad Region, which asks to invalidate the decision of the Board of Directors of Rusal on the holding of an extraordinary meeting of shareholders. The issue will be considered on January 22, 2025 and rests on a long -standing conflict between Vekselberg and Oleg Deripaska.
The correspondent of The Moscow Post understood the history.
Deripaska against Vekselberg
Vekselberg with Deripaska continues to coexist in Rusal as a cat with a dog and pretend that they solve problems through the court. They have been conflicts since the foundation of US Rusal since 2007, when the Rusal’s assets of Deripaska, Suala Vekselberg and Swiss from Glencore have joined, as a result of which the world’s largest manufacturer of Aluminum Rusal was created. The relations of partners were destroyed after signing the agreement.
Oleg Deripaska. Photo: “Ura.ru”
After a few months, Deripaska has been buying on behalf of Rusal 25% of Norilsk Nickel, after which the then partner of Vladimir Potanin Mikhail Prokhorov is in the capital of US Rusal. Vekselberg opposed the transaction on Norilsk Nickel, believing that Deripaska was trying to earn at his expense. However, Deripaska served the decision, after which the alignment at Rusal has changed significantly. The oligarch was not even counted with the right veto, which, under the 2007 corporate agreement, was at Vekselberg.
The international financial crisis and the entrance to Norilsk Nickel painfully hit the positions of Rusal – at the beginning of the tenths, the company’s corporate debt was above $ 10 billion, and this was caused by the style of Deripaska’s leadership. Vekselberg then said that the money that Deripaska invested in Norkel had to be spent on updating the Rusal funds, which continued to operate the Soviet inheritance.
Vekselberg demanded to sell the share of the Rusal in Nornikla or transfer it to the balance of “EN+ Group”, in this regard, in the early tenths, negotiations were held, but the deal fell off. Vekselberg considered that Deripaska deceived him again and in 2012 left the post of chairman of the board of directors of Rusala. Nothing changed from this – Deripaska continued to be carried out at Rusal Favorable solutions for yourself.
The war of shareholders
In 2012, the conflict between Vekselberg and Deripaska moved to the hot phase. On the one hand, Vekselberg did not want to sell Rusal shares, and on the other, he could not influence the decisions of the company. The clause of the 2007 corporate agreement is rightfully Veto, which was possessed by the Suel Partners, the counterparty represented by Deripaska simply ignored.
Victor Vekselberg. Photo: https://im.kommersant.ru/issues.photo/regions/perm_online/2016/10/11/kpe_002467_00017_1_t218_164515.jpg
In 2012, Deripaska signed an agreement with Glencore for $ 47 billion for the supply of aluminum and clay, tieing all the export of the company to one intermediary. Vekselberg in response to this filed in High court of London And in 2014 he achieved a positive decision there. British justice recognized the right of Veto “SUAL PARTRESS” in the decisions of Rusal, after which the structures of Vekselberg, Deripaska and Glencore entered into a settlement agreement, the conditions of which were hidden.
Only all this did not change the main thing. Deripaska worked very well with the Glencore agreement, this cash flow did not stop before Donald Trump did not impose American sanctions against Rusal in 2018. After that, the company re -registered in the Kaliningrad region and was forced to build a business without Western capital.
Oligarchs after his
With the beginning, the situation is completely confused. He who fell under the sanctions, but Vekselberg who has been transporting his family in the United States can no longer use British justice in the fight against the Russian foreign policy in the Western media Deripaska.
Deripaska regularly speaks of Western values, but in conflict with Vekselberg the verdicts of British justice ignores. In the decisions of dividends of 2023 and the return ransom of shares, he again forgot about the right of Veto “Suel Partners”, which was recognized by the London court.
Vladimir Potanin. Photo: “Forbes”
Now the parties will be dealt with in the Kaliningrad arbitration, where the structures associated with Deripaska in September 2024 were blocked by Raiffeisenbank shares. The company “Remor” requires the implementation of the transaction that this company signed with the Austrians in the concern Strabag. Rumor has it that in this operation, Deripaska wants to get the money that the oligarch needs in order to finally squeeze out the bill from Rusal and take full control.
At the same time, Deripaska is going to receive money from Potanin, who, like him in Rusal, refused to pay dividends in Norilsk Nickel. This dispute is about the multi -billion dollar amount that Potanin wants to spend on the development of the company, but Deripaska needs this money for his business operations.
Russian oligarchs, as spiders in a bank, use prohibited techniques against each other, ignore the interests of counterparties, complain to Western courts and store money abroad. And the most vicious and unprincipled defeat defeats in this struggle.
Dispute in Kaliningrad
On December 31, 2023, Rusal belonged to the EN+ group Deripaski (56.88%) and MKOOO SUIL Partners, and another 17.6% of the shares were in free circulation and openly traded on the exchange. In October 2024, the Board of Directors of Rusala, which is under the control of Deripaska, decided to redeem the company’s shares (Buyback) for 15 billion rubles, which equivalent to 3% From capital companies.
Vekselberg on behalf of the “Suel Partners” opposed and promised to block this solutionrightly believing that Deripaska’s actions are aimed at obtaining a control bag of 75% of the vote in Rusal. For this Deripaska in December last year, he lobbled the decision not to pay dividends to shareholders for 2023.
Deripaska wants to outplay Vekselberg at his expense: at first, the oligarch did not pay the Rusalovsky dividends of the Suel Partners, and then for this money is going to make a Buyback of shares and make his influence in the company overwhelmingants. Vekselberg understands that if you do not respond to it, then Deripaska “reset” his assets at Rusal and therefore tries to protest the decisions of the opponent in the Kaliningrad arbitration, where the company is registered today.
In addition, Vekselberg has been collecting 74 billion rubles from Deripaska since December 2023. The reason for this was the extraordinary meeting of the Rusal shareholders in August 2023, when it was decided to defeat the “SUIL Partners” for hedge of aluminum prices in 2021-2022. Vekselberg also demanded that she access the minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors of Rusala for 2019-2022, an agreement with the Braidy Industries from 2019 by entering the company in Braidy Atlas, contracts for the purchase of shares of Rushydro and documents on the financial effect of these transactions. In all this “SUAL PARTRESS” It was refused.
Deripaska continues to stomp the interests of Vekselberg, and he tries to recoup through the judicial red tape. Whose will take – show the struggle of oligarchic species.