VEB opposes Barry Cheung's election as Rusal chairman
MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - Vnesheconombank's First Deputy Chairman Anatoly Tikhonov abstained during a vote to elect the chairman of the Rusal board of directors, a VEB spokesperson told Interfax.
"We consider Barry Cheung's candidacy wrong and do not support it," he said.
VEB owns about 3% shares in Rusal and has one seat on the company's board.
It was reported that on Friday head of the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange Barry Cheung was elected as chairman of board at Rusal to replace Viktor Vekselberg, Sual Partners co-owner (owns a 15.8% stake in the aluminum company), who resigned this post over disagreement with the management led by the company's chief beneficiary Oleg Deripaska.
Cheung was nominated for the board by En+ controlled by Deripaska, which owns 10% in the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange. According to Rusal, Cheung's appointment "will allow to regain the trust of Asian investors" after Vekselberg publicly stated that the company was in "deep crisis."
Commenting on Cheung's election, Sual Partners said the decision was "hasty and non-optimal."
"The company should have conducted proper selection of a candidate for the post of board chairman by inviting international consultants. Moreover, our principled position is that the board of directors in the company with 80% of its assets concentrated in Russia should be led by a Russian citizen, whose independence should not raise questions from any of Rusal's big shareholders," Sual Partners spokesman Andrei Shtorkh said.
Rusal responded by saying that Cheung's candidacy was backed by the overwhelming majority, including independent directors (Rusal has five: four foreigners, including Cheung, and A. Tikhonov), which means the appointment is consistent with the interests of all shareholders.
"The appointment of a foreign national as chairman of the board of directors is a widespread practice among Russian companies which strive to meet the best global standards in corporate management. As for Rusal, the company's business involving assets located on five continents is truly international," the company said.
"No shareholder can dictate or force his decisions on the board of directors, particularly in a situation where chairman's appointment was approved by the overwhelming majority of votes after constructive board discussion," Rusal said on Sunday.
Deripaska controls 47.4% in Rusal via En+. Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group holds 17%, Sual Partners 15.8% and international trader Glencore 8.75%.