Board of steelmaker Evraz quits after Abramovich sanction (updated)

Evraz

11/03/2022 07:52

(Adds background)
    LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - Russian steelmaker Evraz
 EVRE.L  said on Friday that 10 members of its board had quit
following the British sanction of largest shareholder Roman
Abramovich and the suspension of its shares, with only the chief
executive remaining.
    Britain froze the assets and imposed a travel ban on the
Russian owner of Chelsea soccer club on Thursday along with six
other senior Russians because of their links to President
Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2VD2M8
    Among other reasons for sanctioning Abramovich, Britain said
he had destabilised Ukraine through his "effective control" of
Evraz which, it said, may have supplied steel to the Russian
military which may have been used in the production of tanks. 
    Evraz said at the time that it did not believe Abramovich
had effective control of the company because he did not control
more than 50% of the shares and had no right to appoint or
remove a majority of the board. 
    Abramovich has a 28.6% stake, according to the company.
    It also said it only supplied long steel to the
infrastructure and construction sectors. It said as a result it
did not consider that the UK financial sanctions would apply to
the company.    
    On Friday it said that 10 of the 11 board members had
resigned, with chief executive Aleksey Ivanov continuing as a
director. It said it was waiting for further clarifications from
the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation. 
    "Evraz is deeply concerned and saddened by the
Ukraine-Russia conflict and hopes that a peaceful resolution
will be found soon," it said in a statement to the stock
exchange. 
    

 (Reporting by Kate Holton, Editing by Paul Sandle)
 ((kate.holton@thomsonreuters.com; 0044 207 542 8560; Reuters
Messaging: kate.holton.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))