Lucian Bebchuk Elected to Norilsk Nickel’s Board of Directors

According to a press release by MMC Norilsk Nickel, Harvard Law School Professor Lucian Bebchuk was elected for the Company’s Board of Directors as an independent director. The election occurred in an Extraordinary Shareholder Meeting taking place earlier this month. In a press release, UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminum producer and owner of a 25% stake in MMC Norilsk Nickel, referred to Bebchuk as a “a landmark figure for international institutional investors” and expressed hope that the election “will help improve corporate governance … and introduce proper practices and standards for the protection of minority shareholders.”

MMC Norilsk Nickel, a company incorporated under the laws of the Russian Federation, is the largest diversified mining and metals company in Russia, the world’s largest producer of nickel and palladium and one of the world’s largest producers of platinum, rhodium, copper and cobalt. In addition, MMC Norilsk Nickel produces a large number of by-products, including gold, silver, tellurium, selenium, iridium and ruthenium. As well as its key production units in the Polar and Kola Peninsula regions of Russia, MMC Norilsk Nickel assets include operations in Finland, Australia, Botswana and South Africa. MMC Norilsk Nickel’s shares are traded at MICEX and RTS. ADRs on the company’s shares are traded on the over-the-counter market in the United States and on the London and Berlin stock exchanges. MMC Norilsk Nickel’s current market capitalization exceeds $40 billion.

Norilsk Nickel’s press release about the board election results can be found here; Rusal’s press release on the subject can be found here; a WSJ story about the election is available here. More information about Norilsk Nickel is available here.