Moscow Arbitration Court rejected the claim initiated by Maxi Group’s minority shareholder Nikolai Maksimov. The plaintiff insisted that the summer shares-for-loans auction where the shareholdings of Maxi Group’s daughter enterprises were sold should be declared invalid, Maxi Group’s press officer reports.

The shares of Nizhneserginskiy metal goods plant, Uralvtorchermet, and Ural Precision Alloys Plant were acquired by Novolipetsk Iron & Steel Works (NLMK) on June 25, 2009. Maxi Group then explained the sale was necessary to make the company’s asset management more efficient. Nikolai Maksimov immediately declared he would contest the transaction in court.