Norilsk Nickel announced in late February the launch of merger talks with Metalloinvest, owned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov.
"Norilsk Nickel management has been recently informed of Metalloinvest's decision to investigate opportunities for holding an IPO on one or several stock exchanges. At the moment, owing to the request of Metalloinvest, the parties have agreed to suspend the discussion process," Norilsk Nickel said in a statement.
It became known Tuesday that Metalloinvest could sign deals with banks this week, which could see an initial public offering being held in September-October.
"Although the discussions to date are at the initial stage, Norilsk Nickel believes that the merger of Norilsk Nickel and Metalloinvest may have strategic and operational advantages, and could resume in the future," the company statement said.
