"When the new line-up of shareholders gets used to each other, confidence will grow that we now feel is now lacking," Potanin said, paying tribute to the mediating role to be played by Abramovich, an ally of President Vladimir Putin. Speaking after his unanimous election by the Norilsk board, Potanin said he planned to stay in the job for between 18 months and two years. The peace deal will last for 10 years, with the core shareholders agreeing to keep their stakes for five.
Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea soccer club, could act as a conduit for the Kremlin at the cash-rich company that mines the vast mineral deposits of Russia's far north. Having brought an end to the four-year feud between Potanin and Deripaska, he could potentially end up sidelining them as Putin seeks to restore order at the $30 billion miner that was privatised in the mid-1990s.
Deripaska and Potanin now lose their blocking voting stakes and Abramovich steps in with the ability to serve the president's interests early in his new six-year term. "Roman Abramovich is a businessman who wants to make money," a well-connected industry insider said of the deal. "Norilsk Nickel is a cash machine that doesn't need to fear a crisis."
Alexander Abramov, Abramovich's partner in Evraz, Russia's largest steelmaker, is to become board chairman at Norilsk Nickel, a source said. Norilsk's shareholders will elect a new board on March 11. Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, who like Putin served in the Soviet KGB security force, steps down as CEO - a demand by Deripaska that Potanin had resisted.