The main shareholder of UC Rusal Oleg Deripaska did not agree with the terms of the withdrawal of the aluminum company from the sanctions imposed by the US Ministry of Finance, a source informed of the situation at the talks told RBC. "The conditions put forward by OFAC (responsible for the application of sanctions by the division of the US Treasury - RBC) are unacceptable and devoid of economic sense, it is not possible to agree to them," he said.
This information was confirmed by the source of RBC in the government. He called the OFAC position "unconstructive", and the conditions advanced by the Americans "knowingly unfulfillable and openly bonded". "There is a high probability that the negotiations will come to a deadlock due to the impossibility of fulfilling OFAC terms," the source of RBC suggested, without disclosing the content of the proposals of the US Treasury.
Earlier that Deripaska found OFAC conditions unacceptable, the source of Bloomberg, familiar with the entrepreneur's position, reported. A representative of UC Rusal declined to comment.
Sanctions against Deripaska and its companies were introduced by the US Treasury in April. The ministry later noted that restrictions could be lifted from the structures of the Russian businessman if he refused to control the companies. In May, Deripaska left the board of directors of En +.
The head of the US Treasury, Stephen Mnuchin, said on July 26 that "the purpose [of sanctions] was to change the behavior of the oligarch." He noted that the ministry is conducting a "productive discussion" with UC Rusal on removing restrictions.
The company's proposed withdrawal plan is known as the plan of Lord Gregory Barker, who headed the board of directors of En +.
Plan Barker contains three points. This decline in the share of Deripaska in En + is below 50% (now the businessman owns 70% of the company's shares, through En + he, in fact, controls UC Rusal), his expulsion from the boards of directors of En + holding and aluminum concern UC Rusal, and the replacement of Deripaska's representatives in them by an absolute majority of independent directors. Deripaska has already left the board of directors of En + and gave written assurances that he will not be re-elected to the board of directors of UC Rusal, said in the materials of Mercury, which lobbies the interests of Deripaska in the United States. In addition, UC Rusal left the general director Alexander Buriko and seven board members nominated by a Russian businessman. En + Deripaska's affiliate general director Maxim Sokov left.
At the end of July, Barker asked OFAC for additional time to complete the plan, and the agency satisfied the request by providing a new license. The goal of the plan is to reduce the share of Deripaska and his family in the capital of En + at the request of the US Treasury. Barker's plan assumes that it should be transferred to the management of organizations or trustee, which the US Treasury agrees. The transfer of assets in August and September will be monitored by at least two lawyers whose candidacies should also receive OFAC approval, Mercury reported. In addition, the plan still has to elect a fully independent board of directors En + and complete the deal with Glencore, which in late 2017 agreed to exchange 8.75% of UC Rusal for a stake in En +.
On the eve, the US Treasury extended until October 23 deadline for US investors when they should get rid of shares and debt obligations of En +, UC Rusal and GAZ Group.