UPDATE 2-Shareholder RUSAL Unappeased by Norilsk Appointment

MOSCOW, Aug. 3 -- Russia's metals giant Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM: Quote) moved to even out the number of board seats held by two warring top shareholders by appointing a board member to the management team, but RUSAL seemed unappeased.

Andrei Klishas, a senior manager at shareholder Interros Group, will become Norilsk's president, a newly created position, reporting to CEO Vladimir Strzhalkovsky, the company said in a statement.

The world's top aluminium producer UC RUSAL (0486.HK: Quote) (RUAL.PA: Quote) and Interros, which have slightly more than 25 percent each in Norilsk, have been battling for control of the world's largest nickel producer.

"This nomination... may be considered as restoring the parity on the board of directors, where Interros and RUSAL will now have three representatives each, three seats will belong to independent directors and four to the company's top managers," Strzhalkovsky said in the statement.

Interros, the investment vehicle of tycoon Vladimir Potanin could not be immediately reached for comment.

UC RUSAL, majority owned by another tycoon Oleg Deripaska, said it believes that the appointment violates the corporate governance standards as it has not been agreed with the board and no alternative candidates had been presented.

"The unopposed appointment of Klishas to the President position means that Norilsk Nickel is being controlled not by the board of directors... but by Interros, which acts in its own interest," it said in a statement.

RUSAL and Interros signed a truce in 2008 but the fight restarted in June, when RUSAL lost one of its four seats on Norilsk's 13-strong board, giving Interros, which retained its four seats, the upper hand.

RUSAL has alleged Norilsk manipulated the results of the board elections at the AGM and said it planned to call an extraordinary shareholders meeting to re-elect the board. Norilsk has denied the allegations.

In a letter to the Norilsk's board on Monday, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, RUSAL called for the appointment of an independent auditor to review the AGM voting results.

The letter also said that a merger between the aluminium giant and Norilsk "is not on our current agenda".

Klishas will be responsible for Norilsk's corporate strategy, improvement of corporate management, measures aimed to increase the company's market capitalisation, possible mergers and acquisitions.

At 1341 GMT, shares in Norilsk Nickel were up 2.5 percent while shares in RUSAL lost 1.2 percent.