Ex-wife of Potanin filed a lawsuit against the billionaire for another 850 billion rubles

This time, the object of litigation was the rights of beneficial ownership of the shares of Norilsk Nickel and Polyus Gold.
23.05.2017
Forbes
Origin source
Natalia Potanina, ex-wife of Vladimir Potanin, filed a lawsuit against the billionaire for another 849.2 billion rubles. A copy of the application is available to Forbes.

The document says that Potanin demands to recognize the common property of the spouses and share the shares of foreign companies Pharanco, Bektanco, Decoso and Lovenco, the rights to trust management / trustees of these companies' shares, the rights to trust management / trustees of shares of OJSC MMC Norilsk Nickel And OJSC Polyus Gold, as well as to recover from the billionaire monetary compensation for the share due to her.

As the representative of the plaintiff told Forbes, the reason for filing the claim was that the court did not divide the shares of Norilsk Nickel, owned by Vladimir Potanin. At the same time, the court pointed out that the shares do not directly belong to Potanin, but everyone admits that he is the beneficial owner of these shares.

Beneficial ownership is determined by Cypriot law, but Russian courts are also in a position to share such property, Forbes interlocutor explained. He added that this applies to dividends from Norilsk Nickel and Polyus Gold received by Potanin while they were married. "Since the rights of beneficial ownership were joint property of the spouses, all dividends should also be divided according to the Russian law between the spouses in equal shares," concluded Potanin's representative.

The comment of the representative of the billionaire at the time of publication was not obtained.

Natalia and Vladimir Potanin got married in 1983, and in 2013 the businessman filed for divorce. The court found that the marriage had actually disbanded in 2007, and in February 2014 the divorce was officially registered.

After the divorce Natalia received 380 million rubles and three plots of land with outbuildings in the suburbs. However, she repeatedly filed lawsuits in Russia and abroad, trying to achieve a division of shares of Norilsk Nickel and Interros International. In March 2017, she sued to recover from the billionaire more than 215 billion rubles compensation for the shares of KM Invest.