Exclusive: Rusal to change board in bid to persuade U.S. to lift sanctions-sources

[April 27, 2018]   By Polina Devitt and Dmitry Zhdannikov

MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) - Russia's Rusal will overhaul its board and management in the hope the United States will remove the aluminum firm from a sanctions list so it can restart shipments to its customers around the world, two sources told Reuters.

The sources, familiar with the developments but who asked not to be identified because they are not allowed to speak publicly, said Rusal would soon appoint a fully independent board that in turn would install a new management team.

"Rusal is in touch with U.S. authorities and hopes the measure will be enough for them to be removed from the sanctions list," one of the sources said. Rusal declined to comment.

The United States this month imposed sanctions against billionaire Oleg Deripaska and the eight companies in which he is a large shareholder, including Rusal, in response to what the United States called "malign activities" by Russia.

By adding Deripaska's businesses to its Specially Designated Nationals blacklist – the first time Washington had done so with a publicly listed Russian firm - the United States effectively choked off their access to the international financial system.

Rusal, the largest part of Deripaska's empire and the world's second-biggest aluminum producer, has seen customers stop buying its aluminum and creditors scramble to offload debt.

Hong Kong-listed Rusal lost almost 60 percent of its share value after the introduction of sanctions, while aluminum and alumina prices soared, hitting businesses around the world, including in the United States.

Aluminium ingots are seen stored at the foundry shop of the Rusal Krasnoyarsk aluminium smelter in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia November 9, 2017. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin/File Photo

Earlier this week, the United States moved to ease some of the measures against Rusal, saying it did not want to hit companies around the globe and that it could remove Rusal from the list if Deripaska ceded control.

The two sources added that Rusal hoped Deripaska could keep his stake in the firm at the current 48 percent under any arrangement with U.S. authorities.

"Forty-eight percent is not a controlling stake of 50 percent, which under the U.S. rules triggers the sanctions," one of the sources said.

The source added that Rusal was still not shipping to customers around the world as it awaited guidance from U.S. authorities.

"Rusal needs clarity from OFAC before it can resume those shipments," the source said, referring to the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury, which enforces economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals.

Aluminium prices in London fell nearly 2 percent on the news to a low of $2,237 per tonne.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Editing by Dale Hudson and Jason Neely)

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