OREANDA-NEWS. November 18, 2011. OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (hereinafter – MMC Norilsk Nickel, the Company or the Group) announces that its indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries Corbiere Holdings Limited and Raleigh Investments Inc. (hereinafter - Corbiere and Raleigh) have successfully defeated all claims filed against them by United Company Rusal Plc and United Company Rusal Investment Management LLC (together, “Rusal”) in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of the High Court of Justice of St. Christopher & Nevis, reported the press-centre of Norilsk Nickel.

The judgment came into effect upon its adoption by the court. The proceedings were discontinued.

Rusal filed its case against Corbiere and Raleigh on February 1, 2011, and has since amended its pleadings on two occasions. Rusal’s most recent amended case argued that Corbiere and Raleigh had engaged in a “tortious conspiracy” aimed at harming Rusal.  The Nevis Court struck out these claims on the grounds that their prospects of success were “fanciful” and that they were “bound to fail and [had] no prospect of succeeding”. Evidently, in this case, Rusal’s goal was infringement of Corbiere and Raleigh’s rights as well as those of MMC Norilsk Nickel and its shareholders. The Nevis court came to a conclusion that conflicts concerning this issue “must be resolved by the Board of Directors [of Norilsk Nickel] and not by the Nevis High Court”.

The Nevis Court also found that Rusal’s case constituted an “abuse of process” in light of the similar proceedings that Rusal has filed in other jurisdictions.

“Rusal has also filed cases against MMC Norilsk Nickel, its shareholders and partners in the courts of Krasnoyarsk, London, New York, Amsterdam, Bellinzona (Switzerland). But all of the previous court judgments have indicated wiredrawn nature of Rusal’s claims.

Last week, general jurisdiction Court in Amsterdam has also struck out Rusal’s claims against Trafigura, MMC Norilsk Nickel’s partner company.

MMC Norilsk Nickel deems it necessary to announce that in light of the Judgment delivered by Nevis Court, the group has filed a claim against Rusal to compensate the its legal expenses and damages associated with the imposition of interim measures.

The President of MMC Norilsk Nickel, Andrei Klishas has stated that “Considering the contrived nature of Rusal’s claims, the Court’s decision was in line with the expectations. The necessity to carry out numerous EGMs over the last three years and continuous legal proceedings has resulted in nothing but considerable expenses for the company and indicate that Rusal wishes to affect the balance of power at the general meeting of shareholders in its favor using any available means, including unethical methods”.