Norilsk Nickel to shed non-Russian assets

Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest producer of nickel and palladium, said Friday it planned to sell off its non-Russian assets by 2016 to concentrate on its core activities. "We are cutting the pieces that are not productive enough," said deputy chief executive Pavel Fedorov in a meeting with investors broadcast by Internet. The new strategy, which will involve an investment of $8 billion (6 billion euros) and whose major outlines were announced last month, comes as all metal producers are seeing profits squeezed as commodity prices slide. "The new strategy aims to realise the full potential of MMC Norilsk Nickel’s unique resource base at the Polar and Kola Peninsulas" as well as boost operational efficiency and improve governance, the company said in a statement. It plans to dispose of all of its foreign assets by the end of 2016. The company is present in Australia, Finland, Botswana and South Africa. The company plans to make $2 billion of capital investments into its core assets per year between 2014 and 2018. Chief executive Vladimir Potanin said the new strategy "aims to deliver sustainably higher returns by focusing on our Tier I assets and exercising greater investment discipline." Norilsk Nickel's net profit plunged 63 percent in the first half of this year to $545 million, with sales slumping 6 percent to $5.6 billion. Meanwhile, its debt rose by 27 percent to $5 billion.