Nornickel Tycoons Said to Avoid Shoot-Out Sale in Share Dispute
- Deripaska, Potanin have disagreement over Abramovich’s stake
- Shoot Out option is too complicated to use, people say
Molten liquid copper is poured from a furnace at the MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC copper refinery in Norilsk.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergBillionaires Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Potanin’s working arrangement at MMC Norilsk Nickel PJSC is starting to fray, but the tycoons aren’t planning to trigger a so-called shoot out -- a forced auction where the losing bidder must sell his stake to the winner, three people familiar with situation said.
The 2012 agreement between Deripaska’s United Co. Rusal and Potanin’s Interros Holding Co. provides a mechanism by which one man can buy out the other’s stake in Nornickel, as the company is also known. That mechanism, called a "shoot out," was to take effect after a five-year lock-up period expired on Dec. 10, according to a Rusal letter to shareholders published in 2014.