When the US lifted sanctions on United Co. Rusal, the conditions imposed on billionaire Oleg Deripaska provided relief for rival Russian tycoon Vladimir Potanin.
The two magnates have waged a decade-long battle for control of Russian mining giant MMC Norilsk Nickel. That feud would appear to be over as the US Treasury forces Deripaska to relinquish his hold on Rusal, the second-biggest shareholder in Nornickel after Potanin’s Interros Holding Co. Now Potanin has a freer hand to chart a course for the nickel and palladium miner without his nemesis pursuing a mega-merger with Rusal.