Three independent directors leave Nornickel board

MOSCOW. March 17 (Interfax) - Independent non-executive directors Gareth Penny, Roger Munnings and Robert Edwards have stepped down from the board of directors of Nornickel , the Russian mining giant said.

Replacement candidates for election to the board will be announced in due course, the company said.

Penny, the former CEO of diamond miner De Beers, had chaired Nornickel's board since March 2013. He was elected to the board a few months after the signing of the Nornickel shareholder agreement by Vladimir Potnin Interros, Oleg Deripaska's Rusal and the Millhouse (later Crispian) of Roman Abramovich. The ten-year agreement expires at the end of 2022.

Edwards, the head of Highcross Resources Ltd, was nominated to the board y Millhouse and elected in 2014.

Munnings has been a member of Nornickel's board since 2018. He also serves as an independent director at Lukoil and Sistema PJSFC , and his departure from the boards of these companies has not been reported yet.

Interros owns 35.95% of Nornickel, Rusal controls 26.25% and Crispian holds about 4%; treasury stock set aside for an incentive program amounts to 0.5% and the free float is about 33%.