The shareholders of Rusal may not receive dividends from Norilsk Nickel unless the US sanctions against the company are canceled by the end of August. In addition, the company's own contracts may not be met due to the outflow of American customers. This Friday, Reuters reported, citing sources.

According to their data, US sanctions may not allow the shareholders of Rusal, which controls 27.8% of Norilsk Nickel, to receive dividends from the company, the payment of which is expected in August, as OFAC (the Department of the US Treasury Department for Control of Foreign Assets) can treat the distribution of profits as a major transaction and require the payment of special accounts. In addition, despite the fact that the US Ministry of Finance has postponed the American business to curtail relations with the Russian company until October 23, the execution of a number of orders takes up to two months, so in August, Rusal will start losing customers.

"[Oleg] Deripaska's team does not get out of consultations with OFAC, they are ready to fulfill all their demands in order to be withdrawn from sanctions," the source's source in the financial market said. According to a source familiar with the situation, one of the options is to create a blind trust managed by independent managers, where Oleg Deripaska will be able to transfer part of the shares of the company controlled by him En +.

In the "Rusal" declined to comment.

Earlier in May, the chairman of the board of directors of the En + group, Greg Barker, said that the company would submit a plan to exit from US sanctions by mid-summer.

About sanctions

The US authorities on April 6 announced the imposition of sanctions against a number of Russian officials, businessmen and companies. Among them were Oleg Deripaska and related companies Rusal, Basic Element holdings, En + and Russian Machines, Eurosibenergo, GAZ Group, investment company B-Finance and agroholding Kuban.

Entering the sanctions list means freezing assets in the US and banning American citizens from any business with these companies. Initially, the US Ministry of Finance gave the deadline until May 7 that American investors get rid of the shares and debt instruments of all companies listed on the list, and before June 5 they severed their contracts with them. Then, US investors were allowed to conduct transactions with Rusal until October 23, 2018.

Also, the US authorities said they were ready to lift sanctions from Rusal and GAZ Group if Deripaska refused some of the assets and control over these companies. Deripaska, in turn, announced its readiness to reduce its stake in the largest shareholder of RusAl, an En + company, below 50%. Now the businessman controls 48.13% of "Rusal" through En +, in which he owns 66%.