Insiders

Talks between Russian tycoons Vekselberg and Prokhorov over Rusal stake stalled - sources

February 06, 2017 at 03:26 am EST

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Talks between Russian tycoons Viktor Vekselberg and Mikhail Prokhorov over a stake in Russian aluminium producer Rusal have stalled, two financial market sources and an industry source told Reuters on Monday.

Two sources close to Vekselberg told Reuters last year that he planed to buy a 12 percent stake in Rusal from Prokhorov's Onexim Group via SUAL Partners.

Newspaper Vedomosti reported in 2016 that the deal may be worth $700 million and was due to be finalised by the end of November.

Asked about the deal in the middle of December, Vekselberg told Reuters there were "some certain technical questions which need to be solved", adding he hoped the deal would be closed in the near future.

The sources did not specify on Monday why the talks had stalled.

As one possible reason, Vedomosti quoted two sources as saying on Sunday that Rusal's value had almost doubled since the summer when the talks started.

Prokhorov's Onexim owns a 17 percent stake in Rusal. SUAL Partners, controlled by Vekselberg and his partner Leonard Blavatnik, own another 15.80 percent in Rusal.

The biggest Rusal shareholder is En+, a holding company of Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska.

Rusal, En+ and Onexim declined to comment. A spokesman for Vekselberg's Renova investment vehicle said the company does not comment on rumours.

(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova, Polina Devitt, Andrey Kuzmin and Katya Golubkova; Editing by Keith Weir)

Stocks mentioned in the article

	Add to a list Add to a list 0 selected To use this feature you must be a member Log in Sign up	Price	Change	5d. change	Capi.
	LME ALUMINIUM CASH	1,687	+0.06%	-1.03%	-
	RENOVA, INC.	1,501 JPY	+0.94%	+0.94%	877M

Mikhail Evgenyevich Prokhorov

3rd richest man in Russia and the 32nd fortune global according to Forbes’ ranking in 2011, Mikhail Prokhorov is the head of Onemix, a private equity fund that holds shares in the technology of fuel cells, nanotechnology, the mining and more recently energies renewable.

Graduated in Economic relations at Institute of State for Finance in Moscow in 1989, Prokhorov began his career as manager at Camecon Bank. In 1991, he met the man who is in charge of privatization started by Yeltsin government, Vladimir Potanine, who became his business partner.

Appointed as Onexim’s head by his new friend, Michael Prokhorov prepares the Norilsk Nickel’s acquisition, the world largest company in nickel. Four years later, he obtained 38% stake for 170 million Euros and he became the CEO. The two businessmen made acquisitions also in the media sector, buying the Russki Telegraf and the daily Komsomolskaya Pravda.

But the honeymoon between two men is ended. Under Potanin’s pressures, Michael Prokhorov resigned as CEO of Norilsk Nickel.
On July 6 2007, Prokhorov announced that Norilsk Nickel has acquired around 90% of the Canadian company LionOre, becoming the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium, and the most important golf producer in Russia.

In 2008, the Russian tycoon in metallurgy and finance announced plans to invest $10 billion in new mining company Intergeo.
In 2009, he became the richest man in Russia with a fortune of $ 9.5 billion.

View full profile