Rusal may pay out dividends in 2017 - CEO
MOSCOW. Sept 18 (Interfax) - En+ may discuss spinning off Russian aluminum company UC Rusal's stake in MMC Norilsk Nickel as a way to allow the aluminum producer to resume paying dividends, En+ CEO Maxim Sokov said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Rusal may make its first dividend payout since 2008 in 2017, he said, adding that the payment could be earlier if Rusal shareholder decide to spin off the Norilsk Nickel stake.
Several news sources previously cited sources as saying En+ had expressed its readiness to acquire Norilsk Nickel shares from Rusal, as well as take on the responsibility of settling part of the aluminum company's debt. Rusal First Deputy CEO Vladislav Soloviev said in May, however, that this variant was not currently being discussed.
"There are no active discussions on this subject right now, but the idea is not dead. We still may see such discussions initiated," Bloomberg quotes Sokov as saying.
Andrey Shtorkh, a representative of Rusal minority shareholder Sual Partners said the question of spinning of stake in Norilsk Nickel was not discussed by the board of directors.
"Maxim chose a completely strange form of dialogue with Rusal shareholders - through the press, despite the fact that until now it had been decided that all strategic issues would be discussed among shareholders in the format of the board of directors. We have still not heard about this innovation in shareholder relations [or] about any formulated proposal to spin off the Norilsk Nickel shares, so there's nothing to comment on," Shtorkh told Interfax.
Onexim has declined to comment.
The En+ chief also said the company was planning to nearly double coal shipments to China - from 600,000 tonnes this year to 1 million tonnes in 2015. Sokov said the company still intended to take part in the construction of transmission lines to send electricity from Siberian hydro-electric power plants to China.
The joint venture set up by Vostsibugol, which is part of En+, and the major Chinese coal company Shenhua - Razrez Ugol LLC - won an auction for the right to prospect for and mine bituminous coal at the Zashulan deposit in Trans-Baikal Territory, En+ has said in a statement. Production will begin in 2018 and project capacity reached in 2021. Production at the Zashulan field will depend on the market situation and be 1-6 million tonnes of coal per year.
Rusal was established in 2007 after the merger of Rusal, Sual, and Swiss trader Glencore's alumina assets. The company's largest shareholder is Deripaska Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group owns 17% of its shares, Sual Partners holds 15.8%, and Glencore has 8.75%. Free float is around 10%.