This is stated in the company's message to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The decision to leave Deripaska from the board of directors of the aluminum company was approved by the board of directors of his En + group, which owns 48.1% of UC Rusal shares, on May 18.
"In order to facilitate the efforts made by the group's management to protect the interests of the company and its shareholders after the OFAC sanctions were imposed, Oleg Deripaska, a non-executive director of the company, resigned from May 25, 2018," - Rusal said in a statement. It also notes that Deripaska has no disagreements with the board of directors, and there are no other reasons for his resignation, which should be notified to shareholders.
On the eve of UC Rusal announced the refusal of En + from nomination of its candidates to the new board of directors of the aluminum company. Thus, at the annual meeting of shareholders of UC Rusal on June 28, the general director of En + Vladislav Solovyev, the chairman of the board of directors of the GAZ Group Sigfrid Volf, Maxim Sokov, Dmitry Afanasyev, Gulzhan Moldazhanova, Olga Mashkovskaya and Ekaterina Nikitina will not be re-elected. The company also announced the resignation of its CEO, Alexandra Buriko, appointed to this position only in March. From May 23 to the performance of duties of the general director of UC Rusal Evgeny Nikitin started.
On April 6, the US Treasury announced the inclusion of Oleg Deripaska and his eight companies in the sanctions lists. The decision to withdraw from the board of directors of UC Rusal Deripaska is part of the so-called anti-sanction "Barker plan." Its author is the independent Chairman of the Board of Directors of En + Lord Gregory Barker. In fact, he proposed to fulfill the requirements of the US Treasury.
In late April, the US financial department issued an explanation that the company can be removed from sanctions in the event of a change in the controlling shareholder. The "Barker Plan" approved by the Board of Directors of En + implies the reduction of Deripaska's share in En + from the current 66.1% below 50%, his departure from the company's board of directors and the appointment of new independent directors instead of those who left him because of sanctions. Later, a representative of the US Treasury explained that in itself a decline in the share in the company of a person under sanctions does not entail its automatic exclusion from the sanctions list.