The US Ministry of Finance did not appreciate the stunt of Oleg Deripaska

The US Treasury does not guarantee the lifting of sanctions after the change in ownership structure in US Rusal.
A representative of the US Treasury said that the changes in US Rusal's ownership structure, the efforts of Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska to distance themselves from it, do not guarantee the removal of sanctions from a metallurgical company, Reuters reports.

"Reducing the share belonging to a person who is under sanctions, in itself, is not a basis for exclusion from the sanctions list," the representative of the agency specified. "The Ministry of Finance conducts a thorough analysis of the facts and circumstances of each request for removal from the sanctions list," he added.

Deripaska decided to reduce the stake in En + below 50%. The businessman also agreed to resign from the company's board of directors and appoint new independent directors to make up the majority on the board. En + owns a 48.1% stake in US Rusal. Under the shareholder agreement, En + is the controlling shareholder of the metallurgical company.

Now Deripaska controls 66.1% of En +, another 5.8% - from his wife Polina. Deripaska's package based on quotes on the London Stock Exchange is worth $ 2.24 billion. Up to what level Deripaska is ready to reduce the stake, it is not known.

Deripaska will reduce the stake in En + due to sanctions
This will not lead to the company losing control of UC Rusal

Oleg Deripaska "agreed in principle" to reduce the stake in En + below 50% - such an offer made him independent chairman of the board of directors En + Lord Gregory Barker, En + said on the London Stock Exchange. He also agreed to resign from the company's board of directors and appoint new independent directors to make up the majority on the board.

Now Deripaska controls 66.1% of En +, another 5.8% - from his wife Polina. Deripaska's package based on quotations on the London Stock Exchange is worth $ 2.24 billion. Up to what level Deripaska is ready to reduce the stake, it is not reported, but if it is 50% minus 1 share, then it will need to sell 16.1% - this package costs about $ 547 million

 
The Deripaska package is issued for two companies: "Basel" (12.2%) and B-Finance (53.9%), which is sanctioned. She will have to sell at least 3.9%. Will the share of "Basel" be reduced, its representative did not say. An En + representative did not say to whom and when Deripaska could sell the stake.

With the decrease in the share in En +, the indirect share of Deripaska will also decrease in UC Rusal, the second aluminum producer in the world (6% of the world market). En + owns 48.1% of the company's shares. "Accordingly, the indirect share of Deripaska's ownership in UC Rusal will decrease from 31.6% to a maximum of 24.05%", - estimated the investment director of TKC Partners Andrei Tretelnikov.

The proposal to Deripaska to reduce the shareholding in UC Rusal below the control to withdraw it from the sanctions, came from the US Treasury Secretary Stephen Munchina on Monday. If Deripaska reduces the stake in En +, which is recognized as the controlling shareholder of UC Rusal, then Deripaska's (as an En + shareholder) influence on UC Rusal's board of directors decreases, says Tretyelnikov. "If the US authorities are already going for relief, most likely, they will have enough compliance with formal signs - a decrease in the share of Deripaska in En +. Further, no one will delve into, "- sure investment banker working with UC Rusal.

 
The Deripaska package will be bought by either an okologosudarstvennaya structure, or a friendly businessman, or the company itself - as happened with the Swiss Sulzer, consider several investment bankers. It was controlled by Deripaska's partner in UC Rusal Viktor Vekselberg, who was under the same sanctions. In order for Sulzer to continue working without problems, Vekselberg reduced its share below the control, selling 14.6% of Sulzer's shares to itself. The deal was approved by the US authorities.

The situation can be rectified only by selling the stake in En + to a third party, not related to the Deripaska side, the investment banker who met with representatives of the US Treasury a week ago believes. Optimal buyer for the share of Deripaska in En + could be the RFPI, believes the general director of "Sputnik - management of capital" Alexander Losev.

"VEB or any other state-owned bank can become a buyer," says Vadim Bit-Avragim, senior portfolio manager at Capital.

The request to the RFPI remained unanswered, Sberbank and VEB declined to comment, it was not possible to receive comments from VTB last night.

The shareholder agreement of UC Rusal, which was signed by UC Rusal, Sual Partners Vekselberg, Leonard Blavatnik and the Swiss trader Glencore before the IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, will probably not affect the reduction in the stake in En + and UC Rusal, says BMS Law Firm partner Denis Frolov. The document specifies the share of En + in the aluminum holding company, but it does not change. En + - the controlling shareholder, as long as it retains a minimum of 40% in UC Rusal, follows from the disclosed part of the agreement. UC Rusal declined to comment.


Sale of shares in En + will have to be coordinated in antimonopoly bodies. This is an international transaction that affects the interests of a number of countries, explains the partner consulting Urus Advisory Alex Panin.

En + Group plc

Industrial Group

Shareholders: Basel, the structure of Oleg Deripaska B-Finance Limited and members of his family control 76.6%, the rest - in free circulation.
Capitalization (LSE, as of April 6, 2018) is $ 7 billion.

Financial indicators (IFRS, 2017): revenue - $ 12.1 billion, net profit - $ 1.4 billion.

En + unites assets in metallurgy, energy and mining. Among them, 48.13% of the aluminum company UC Rusal, the energy holding Eurosibenergo (owns 95.7% of the Krasnoyarsk HPP, 90.5% of Irkutskenergo, etc., a total of 18 power plants with a total installed capacity of 19.5 GW), Krasnoyarsk Metallurgical plant and producer of ferromolybdenum "Soyuzmetallresurs".