A Siberian arbitration court has set a preliminary hearing date of September 16 for a suit from the world's largest aluminum producer RusAl over the failure of Russia's top nickel producer Norilsk Nickel to provide annual shareholders' meeting vote results, a court official said on Friday.
The court has involved Russia's Federal Financial Markets Service (FFMS) in the case, the official said.
On August 16, RusAl, which has a blocking stake in Norilsk, said in a statement that Norilsk Nickel management had violated article 91 of the law On Joint Stock Companies and had not provided RusAl with AGM vote ballots.
RusAl has filed a request to the FFMS to check the AGM results and accused Interros, a second Norilsk shareholder, of ruining the parity and the board of directors of a vote fraud. Norilsk Nickel asked the FFMS to check results of the AGM and confirm the lack of violations.
Following the June AGM, RusAl, controlled by billionnaire Oleg Deripaska, holds three seats on the board of Norilsk. Interros, the investment arm of billionaire Vladimir Potanin, also holds three. Norilsk management, including Andrei Klishas, an Interros senior manager, holds four seats and independent directors three.
Earlier in August, RusAl filed a complaint with the London Court of International Arbitration against Interros over the AGM.
MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti)
