OREANDA-NEWS. July 04, 2011. Third Arbitration Court of Appeals has suspended the proceedings related to the claim of  UC Rusal Asset Management LLC’s against OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (hereinafter – MMC Norilsk Nickel of the Company) regarding provision of accounting documents and reports to Rusal, reported the press-centre of Norilsk Nickel.

MMC Norilsk Nickel appeals Krasnoyarsk Region Arbitration Court’s decision regarding provision of accounting documents and reports considering that Rusal is abusing its shareholder rights.

The court of primary jurisdiction has referred to the Decree of the Ministry of Culture of Russia of August 25, 2010 “The list of standard management archive documents, generated during the interactions with government agencies and local government agencies and organizations with specific retention periods” as the basis for discovery of documents decision. This list is applicable to the “government agencies and local government agencies and organizations …regardless of the ownership”, i.e. the list imposes the responsibilities, associated with storage and provision of these documents not only on government agencies but also on commercial organizations not subordinated to them.  

The Company finds that the order was issued with considerable exceeding of authority of Russian Ministry of Culture since, in accordance with the Regulations of Ministry of Culture, the latter has the right to approve lists of standard archive documents only for federal bodies of state power and corresponding lower organizations. The Company believes that the extension of lists over to commercial companies not under the control of federal bodies of state power is illegitimate.

The above indicated list contains 1003 titles of documents to be archived including such documents insignificant for companies’ activities as newspaper abstracts, advertisement posters, draft insignia and emblems. Storing documents in accordance with the list leads to additional expenses of a commercial company.

In view of the abovementioned, the Company is currently litigating the order of the Russian Ministry of Culture to approve the list in the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation. Hearing of Rusal’s appeal relating to documents delivery is suspended until examination of the case on its merits in the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation.
ABOUT MMC NORILSK NICKEL:

MMC Norilsk Nickel, a company incorporated under the laws of the Russian Federation, is the largest diversified mining and metals company in Russia, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium and one of the world's largest producers of platinum, rhodium, copper and cobalt. In addition to this, MMC Norilsk Nickel produces a large number of other by-products, including gold, silver, tellurium, selenium, iridium and ruthenium.

The key production units of the Company’s group in Russia are at the Polar and Kola Peninsulas. MMC Norilsk Nickel international assets include operations in Finland, Australia, Botswana and South Africa.

MMC Norilsk Nickel’s shares are traded at MICEX and RTS. ADR’s on the Company’s shares are traded on the other the counter market in the US and at the London and Berlin stock exchanges.