En+ prepared to consider purchase of Sual's stake in Rusal if offer made - Deripaska
MOSCOW. March 14 (Interfax) - Oleg Deripaska's En+, the principal shareholder in UC Rusal, is prepared to consider the purchase of a 15.8% share in the aluminum company from Sual Partners.
"If they [Sual] sell it, we will discuss it," Deripaska told journalists on Tuesday. "We have the priority right," he added.
The possibility that Sual's share could be sold to a shareholder other than En+, Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group, or Glencore is only theoretical, Deripaska said. "Everything is possible in theory, but I think this is impossible practically, considering the structure and history of our relations," he said.
Viktor Vekselberg, a co-owner of Sual Partners, announced his resignation on Monday as Rusal board chairman, the position he had occupied since the unified company's establishment in 2007.
A source close to Vekselberg told Interfax on Tuesday that Sual Partners did not plan to sell its share in Rusal, and Deripaska did not consider this likely, either.
"It seems to me that Viktor Feliksovich [Vekselberg], even receiving proposals [on selling the stake in Rusal], routinely declines them to increase the price," Deripaska said.
Asked whether other Rusal shareholders have made such proposals, Deripaska replied, "they have as well."
Commenting on Vekselberg's characterization of the situation at Rusal as a "deep crisis" caused by the actions of management, Deripaska said: "There is no crisis, neither deep nor shallow. There is a fairly difficult situation on the market."
"On the other hand, there's no reason to fall into despair. I would not advise any shareholders to sell or jump to conclusions," Deripaska said.