Norilsk Shareholders Balance Board.

(From The Moscow Times)

A record turnout of 77 percent of shareholders voted in favor of increasing the size of its board from nine to 13 members and elected two independent directors Monday, results that seemed to please all parties involved.

That the company didn't give minority shareholders a chance to ask questions probably helped.

Norilsk, the world biggest nickel producer, decided to pay 20 to 25 percent of its net profits for last year of $5,276 billion, which was 11.6 percent below that for 2006.

The changes in the size of the board will only come into effect at the beginning of next year, however, so shareholders elected just nine directors Monday.

Interros president Vladimir Potanin, who owns about a 30 percent stake in the company, was elected to the board along with two supporters -- Andrei Klishas and Andrei Bugrov, both of Interros. The Interros contingent was also strengthened by the election of an independent director, Michael Levitt, who is said to be close to Potanin's company.

RusAl, which brought one-quarter of Norilsk's shares in April, put company owner Oleg Deripaska, managing director Alexander Bulygyn, and new owner of 14 percent of RusAl's shares, Mikhail Prokhorov, on the board. Guy de Selliers and Heinz Schimmelbusch were elected as independent directors.