Comment on rumored merger with Rusal

I see no reason for Norilsk to consider a merge with the world's top aluminum producer RUSAL, (which has a 25 percent stake in Norilsk) at this stage.. There are no obvious operational or corporate synergies from the merger as the two companies are very different businesses with no operational or marketing overlap.. In my view, the market prefers high quality focused businesses. In Norilsk case this is a unique business which has high margins and should command a higher premiums in the market place. To mix the two businesses would potentially confuse the market and may result in a lower valuation of the new company than that of the sum of its parts.