Abramovich plays white knight at miner

Billionaire Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich is buying a $2 billion (£1.2 billion) stake in Russia’s Norilsk Nickel in a bid to end a four-year power struggle between the two biggest shareholders in the world’s largest nickel and palladium miner.

Abramovich’s purchase will net him 7.3% of the Arctic miner, where he is expected to act as a “white knight”, buffering the ongoing disputes between the Russian tycoons Vladimir Potanin and Oleg Deripaska, who each control about a quarter of the company.

Potanin and Deripaska have been locking horns since the latter’s Hong Kong-listed Rusal, the world’s biggest aluminium firm, bought its stake in Norilsk Nickel for $14bn in 2008, just before the global crash.

Since then, Rusal and Norilsk Nickel have been hit by weakening demand, while Deripaska felt he never had much of a say in the running of Norilsk and was instead repeatedly overruled by Potanin.

Under today’s deal, Abramovich’s Millhouse Capital investment vehicle will also get three seats on the 13-member board of Norilsk Nickel’s board of directors.

“The reasons for and benefits of entering into the agreement are to improve the existing corporate governance and transparency of the Norilsk Nickel group, to maximise profitability and shareholders’ value and to settle the disagreements of the company and Interros [Potanin’s investment vehicle],” said a Russal spokesman.