OREANDA-NEWS. November 17, 2010. UC RUSAL(SEHK: 486, EuroNext: RUSAL/RUAL), the world’s largest aluminium producer and owner of a 25% stake in MMC Norilsk Nickel, today announces that it has sent a request to MMC for the company to provide copies of the minutes of the meetings of the executive committee for 2010.

RUSAL wishes to study the minutes of the meetings of the Norilsk Nickel Management Board to understand which decisions were made without the approval of the Board of Directors, notably the sale of 8.1% of quasi-treasury shares of MMC in August 2010. The market value of this stake as of 8 November 2010 was USD 2.9 billion.

In accordance with Article 91 of the Russian Federal Law on Joint Stock Companies, all shareholders owning at least 25% of the voting shares of a company have the right to access the minutes of the meetings of a collegial executive body of the company.

RUSAL has repeatedly expressed its concern about the lack of control and transparency that is demonstrated by the management of MMC. Currently, Norilsk Nickel has no related party transaction rules, there are no independent fairness valuations undertaken for such transactions, and shareholders are not treated equally, based on economic ownership.

RUSAL believes that introducing world-class corporate governance practices backed by higher levels of control and transparency will be instrumental in increasing Norilsk Nickel’s market value.