OREANDA-NEWS. June 09, 2014. The annual general meeting of shareholders of MMC Norilsk Nickel took place. During the AGM a new Board of Directors was elected and the final dividend for 2013 of RUB 248.48 per ordinary share was approved.

Previously, at the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders held on December 20, 2013, it was agreed to pay a dividend on common shares for the nine months of the fiscal year 2013 of RUB 220.70 per ordinary share.

 Therefore, the total dividend for 2013 is RUB 469.18 per share, which fully meets the targets set out in Norilsk Nickel’s strategy.

The Board of Directors was elected as follows:

Gareth Penny, Executive Chairman of New World Resources plc.;

Andrei Bougrov, Deputy CEO of Government and Investor Relations of MMC Norilsk Nickel;

Sergey Barbashev, CEO, Chairman of the Board of CJSC INTERROS HC;

Alexey Bashkirov, Deputy CEO of CJSC INTERROS HC and member of the Board of CJSC INTERROS HC;

Sergey Bratukhin, President of Invest AG;

Marianna Zakharova, Deputy CEO for Legal Affairs, Member of the Board of CJSC INTERROS HC;

Yegor Ivanov, Director for Control, Internal Audit and Business Coordination of RUSAL;

Stalbek Mishakov, Advisor to the CEO, RUSAL;

Gerhard Prinsloo, Director and majority owner of the Natural Resources Partnership;

Sergey Skvortsov, Deputy CEO of ROSTEC;

Maxim Sokov, Executive Director Member of the Board of Directors of RUSAL and First Deputy CEO, En+ Group;

Vladislav Soloviev, First Deputy CEO of RUSAL;

Robert Edwards, CEO of Highcross Resources Ltd.

The shareholders approved the annual report and financial statements, the consolidated financial statements for 2013 in accordance with IFRS, as well as the Articles of Association.

In addition, the shareholders' meeting approved a number of transactions and the audit committee selected and approved the company's auditors for 2014: Rosexpertiza for RAS Russian accounting and KPMG for the IFRS Consolidated Financial Statements.

Following the end of the meeting the Board of Directors held a meeting at which were chosen the Chairman of the Board and the heads of key committees. The Chairman, as before, was confirmed as Gareth Penny; his Deputy, Andrei Bougrov, was also reconfirmed. The Audit Committee is headed by Gerhard Prinsloo, the Strategy Committee by Maxim Sokov, the Committee on Corporate Governance, Nomination and Remuneration by Sergey Bratukhin, and the Budget Committee by Alexey Bashkirov.

Commenting on the results of the AGM, the CEO of MMC Norilsk Nickel, Vladimir Potanin, said: "I express my gratitude to our shareholders, whose decisions at the second consecutive annual meeting have shown their support and trust in the work of the Board of Directors. “In a short period, Norilsk Nickel has made important progress on delivering a new strategy for the company". Members of the Board of Directors have made a significant contribution to the creation of these strategic initiatives, and positive results from their implementation can already be seen. I hope that the fruitful cooperation of management and the Board of Directors will continue and allow us to continue successfully implementing our strategic plans."

The Chairman of the Board, Mr Gareth Penny, commented: "Clearly, Norilsk Nickel has made several big steps forward since last year, not least with regards to significant progress in terms of corporate governance. I should also mention the progress made by management in formulating and implementing the company's new strategy, which has been well received by the market. Summing up the results of last year, I believe that both management and shareholders can be proud of the achievements of Norilsk Nickel. The Board of Directors and management will continue to make every effort to ensure Norilsk Nickel strives to be the best in the industry.”