OREANDA-NEWS. February 17, 2011. Following the interim order obtained by UC RUSAL in Nevis restraining Corbiere and Raleigh (subsidiaries of MMC Norilsk Nickel) from voting quasi-treasury shares of Norilsk Nickel and prohibiting them from transferring or disposing of such shares, UC RUSAL has filed applications in the courts of several other jurisdictions to further protect its 25% interest in Norilsk Nickel.

In summary, each application seeks information and/or documentation from parties in different jurisdictions in relation to the significant transactions affecting Norilsk Nickel of which little or no information was provided to the board of Norilsk Nickel.

RUSAL, as a substantial minority shareholder of Norilsk Nickel, and the directors of Norilsk Nickel nominated by RUSAL, have been requesting but unable to receive from Norilsk Nickel information regarding various transactions, some involving billions of dollars, some of which were not presented to or approved by the board of Norilsk Nickel. RUSAL is acting in its own interests and in the interests of other minority shareholders, from whom important details of these substantial transactions have been concealed.

The legal actions listed below were made necessary by the consistent lack of transparent information about the subject transactions and are aimed at defending RUSAL’s interests and protecting the “right to know” of all minority shareholders.

1. On 4 February 2011, applications were issued by RUSAL in the Courts of England and Wales for discovery of information and documents against third parties (including HSBC, Citigroup and Debevoise & Plimpton law firm) believed to possess documents and information relating to the “buy back”, Trafigura and other transactions identified in the claims brought by RUSAL in the Krasnoyarsk Territory Arbitrazh Court and the Nevis court. Any discovery will be used to identify the ultimate wrongdoers and to further particularise RUSAL’s claims in Russia, Nevis and elsewhere.

2. On Tuesday 10 February 2011, RUSAL filed two petitions seeking discovery in the United States under U.S.C. § 1782, a statute enabling United States District Courts to order parties located in the United States to produce documents and testimony to be used in foreign proceedings. In the Southern District of New York, RUSAL asked that the court compel the Bank of New York to produce information pertaining primarily to (i) the purchase, sale and voting of securities of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel, (ii) the operative transaction documents and communications relating to the buyback of Norilsk shares and the sale of Norilsk shares to Trafigura which were recently announced by a Norilsk subsidiary, and (iii) the entities who were behind the challenged transactions.

3. In the District of Connecticut, USA, on 10 February 2011, RUSAL asked the District Court of Connecticut, USA, to compel Trafigura AG, a company with offices located in Stamford, Connecticut, to produce information in its possession relating primarily to its recent purchase of Norilsk securities and any agreement regarding their voting. Both petitions requested the discovery for use in RUSAL’s pending actions before the courts of Russia, and the Nevis court and the London Court of International Arbitration.

RUSAL will continue to defend its interests and protect the rights of other minority shareholders by all available legal means.