OREANDA-NEWS. March 15, 2013. Shareholders of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel (hereinafter – MMC Norilsk Nickel or the Company) have voted in favor of early termination of powers of the Company’s Board of Directors and elected a new Board of Directors in the course of  Extraordinary General Meeting of the Company’s Shareholders (hereinafter EGM).

In accordance with preliminary voting results, the following directors were elected to the Board of Directors:

Enos Ned Banda, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, FREETEL Capital (PTY) LTD;

Sergey Barbashev, General Director, Chairman of the Managing Board, CJSC INTERROS Holding Company;

Alexey Bashkirov, Executive Director for Investments and Asset Management of CJSC INTERROS Holding Company;

Sergey Bratukhin, President, CIS Investment Advisers, LLC;

Andrey Bougrov, Deputy General Director,  Member of the Managing Board  of CJSC INTERROS Holding Company;

Marianna Zakharova, Deputy General Director for Legal Issues, Member of the Managing Board, CJSC INTERROS Holding Company;

Valeriy Matvienko, Director, Alumina Division East, CJSC RUSAL Global Management B.V.;

Stalbek Mishakov, Adviser to General Director, CJSC RUSAL Global Management B.V.;

Gareth Penny, Executive Chairman of the Board, New World Resources Plc;

Gerhardus Prinsloo, Director, majority owner of Natural Resource Partnership LLC;

Maxim Sokov, Director for Strategic Investments Management, CJSC RUSAL Global Management B.V.;

Vladislav Solovyev, First Deputy CEO, CJSC RUSAL Global Management B.V.;

Sergey Chemezov, CEO of RosTec Corporation, State Development, Production and Export Facilitation of Advanced Industrial Products Company.

The first meeting of the newly elected Board followed the EGM. The Directors jointly appointed Gareth Penny as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Andrey Bougrov was elected as Deputy Charman of the Board. There were also appointed chairpersons of the Board Committees: Gerhardus Prinsloo, Maxim Sokov, Sergey Bratukhin, and Alexey Bashkirov will chair the Audit Committee, the Strategy Committee, the Corporate Governance, Nomination and Remuneration Committee and the Budget Committee respectively.

Penny Gareth outlined: “The newly elected Board of Directors of Norilsk Nickel includes 5 independent non-executive directors out of 13 Members. The position of the Chairman of the Board is now occupied by an independent Director. Such number of independent directors guarantees that the decisions of the Board will be impartial and will serve the interests of all shareholders of the Company. I believe that MMC Norilsk Nickel has a great potential for development. The settlement of a dispute between major shareholders should provide the Company with a solid platform for further improvement of strategic, operational and corporate governance issues. We as the Board members will do our best to ensure stability of the Company's operations and increase its long-term value for shareholders.”