The chairman of Norilsk Nickel Mr. Alexander Voloshin indicated that it would be advantageous for the largest nickel-mining company in the world to merge with other Russian steel and metal companies after the economic crisis passes.

Alexander Voloshin, who served as the head of Russian presidential administration, believes that Russia’s metal producers would gain great benefits from working together. The plans for a merger can be brought up for consideration one more time when the prices of commodities stabilize.

Mr. Voloshin did not support the idea of a merger during the times of an economic downturn, when some companies are confronted with serious individual debt problems.

The directors of Russian metal-producing companies made a decision to postpone the creation of a large mining company with Norilsk Nickel at its center, when the Kremlin administration declined their proposal to have the state take in their debts estimated at several billions of dollars in return for a share of ownership of the resulting conglomerate.

Mr. Voloshin, former chief of staff for Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin, became chairman of Norilsk in December of 2008 after state bank VEB took a stake in the company as collateral on a USD 4.5 billion loan to UC RUSAL.

According to industry experts, the statements of Mr. Voloshin confirm that the state would be interested in supporting a large-scale merger, but only in a situation where conditions are right.