Evraz CEO Alexei Ivanov resigns
MOSCOW. July 3 (Interfax) - The board of directors of Evraz plc has accepted the resignation of CEO Alexei Ivanov, who notified the steel and mining group that he planned to step down as of June 30, the company reported.
"Given the UK sanctions imposed on Evraz plc and other technical organizations, the company cannot conduct operations. Therefore, the execution of CEO duties in such a situation is extremely difficult. The management of Evraz plc will be carried out by the company's board of directors," a Evraz spokesman said.
He said Ivanov will retain an executive role at Evraz's Russian division and his position as chairman of the board of Evraz North America plc.
Ivanov, who has worked at Evraz since 2002, was appointed vice president and head of the group's steel division in May 2011. He was appointed CEO in May 2021 after Alexander Frolov, one of the group's major shareholders, stepped down from this position. Frolov's departure was due to the possible restructuring of the company with the demerger of the coal division into a separate business, which was called off in the spring of 2022 due to sanctions.
The United Kingdom imposed sanctions against Evraz's largest shareholder, Roman Abramovich in March 2022, after which all nonexecutive directors left the company's board. Only CEO Andrei Ivanov remained on the board and he was then joined by CFO Nikolai Ivanov. Evraz itself was later also hit by UK sanctions.
Evraz's board now has two directors: Ruslan Ibragimov, vice president for corporate and legal issues and government relations at MTS ; and independent director Andrei Loboda, a practicing lawyer and managing partner of law firm Loboda, Filimonov & Partners. Alexei Ivanov and Nikolai Ivanov served on the board until October 2022.
Evraz is a major vertically integrated steel and mining company. Its largest shareholders as of the end of 2021 were Roman Abramovich with 28.64%, and company founders Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov with 19.32% and 9.65%, respectively.