Behind every billionaire there is a story!

Ruling opens can of worms for Deripaska

When Mr Justice Christopher Clarke heard opening arguments in April for Michael Cherney’s case to bring his $4bn claim for a 20 per cent stake in Oleg Deripaska’s Rusal to London, he was well aware of the importance of the plea.

Noting in closing remarks in May that he was being asked to make a unique decision in the history of English arbitration, he then took a little more than two months before he issued Thursday’s ruling to grant the plea English jurisdiction. He based his decision on grounds that Mr Cherney had a “good arguable case” that could not be heard in Russia for fear he could be assassinated or arrested on trumped-up charges.

The judgement is likely to be studied by other business people from Russia and the former Soviet Union with disputes that they have brought – or are considering bringing – to London.

Mr Justice Clarke’s decision opens a can of worms for Russia’s richest man at a time when he is embarking on his most ambitious venture yet – a merger of his United Company Rusal with Norilsk Nickel, the world’s biggest nickel miner, in an effort to form a Russian metals and mining giant on a par with BHP Billiton.

read the rest published by FT here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1e255dde-492b-11dd-9a5f-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1