Russian aluminium giant Rusal is one of those companies where you feel things are not quite as they seem. So when Hong Kong's Barry Cheung Chun-yuen recently stepped down as chairman of the Hong Kong-listed company and was replaced by Matthias Warnig, you had to wonder what was going on. Readers may recall we reported in May, after Warnig's appointment as non-executive director, that he was expected to become chairman at the AGM in June. However, that did not happen, and at the time Cheung said he had no reason to believe that was being planned, even though there was talk he was not favoured by the Kremlin.
Cheung became chairman in March after the acrimonious departure of Viktor Vekselberg, who said at the time Rusal was "in deep crisis". The thinking behind the Warnig elevation is that he is a long-time chum of Russian President Vladimir Putin from when they were cold warriors in their respective secret services. Cheung, on the other hand, is trusted by major shareholder and chief executive Oleg Deripaska. The latest board reshuffle, some say, may not be unconnected with the recent out-of-court settlement between Deripaska and his former business partner Michael Cherney, who claimed that he owned 13.4 per cent of Rusal.
For years Deripaska challenged the right of London's High Court to hear the case. Then, shortly after the case started, both sides announced a settlement had been reached. Details of this have not been released, but there is speculation Deripaska agreed to make a payment to Cherney. And to get even more speculative, the thinking is this may have weakened Deripaska's control of Rusal, with the result that he has had to bow to pressure for Warnig to be chairman.
However, Cheung tells this speculation is fanciful, that his resignation has been in train for some time and the proximity to the court settlement is coincidental.
"I found that I didn't have enough time to devote to the job to be an effective chairman," he said yesterday. He thought it was better for the chairman to be based in Moscow. Cheung was adamant his stepping down had nothing to do with the court settlement, nor was it engineered by Deripaska or anyone else. We suspect tongues will continue to wag on this for some time yet.
