MOSCOW, January 18. /TASS/. Direct and indirect ownership interest of the Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska in En+ that has been slapped with US sanctions, will be reduced to below 50%, the company said in a statement on Friday.
"In response to recent press reports, En+ Group PLC confirms that, as part of the arrangements pursuant to which Oleg Deripaska's direct and indirect ownership interest in the company will be reduced to below 50%," the statement said.
In December 2018, it became known that the US Treasury was ready to remove sanctions against three companies owned by Oleg Deripaska, En+, Rusal, and EuroSibEnergo, within 30 days if the main beneficiary followed a number of conditions, including the reduction of his control in En+ from roughly 70% to 44.95%. Moreover, changes should be made to the companies’ boards of directors through including the majority of independent directors, as well as to structures of companies’ management. Deripaska will vote only 35% of his shares.
David Knower, David Crane and D. J. Baker have been identified as independent individuals who may, subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, exercise the voting rights attaching to certain shares of the company, as required by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, En+ said.
The US Treasury Department slapped sanctions against a number of Russian officials, businessmen and companies on April 6. Among them were several enterprises belonging to Oleg Deripaska, including Rusal, Basic Element, En+, Russian Machines, EuroSibEnergo, GAZ Group, B-Finance investment company and Agroholding Kuban. The restrictions imply that the US assets of those companies were frozen. They also ban American citizens from doing any business with those companies.