Everyone loves a world champion. Watching a sportsman, or even a company, bestriding the globe lifts a nation’s spirits. Success also lends legitimacy. The latest flag carriers are miners: Australia’s BHP Billiton and Brazil’s Vale are already national heroes. Anglo American leads the pack in South Africa. The Kazakh government may coax ENRC and Kazakhmys together. Similarly, a merger between Russia’s Rusal and Norilsk Nickel has the potential to create the fourth biggest mining company in the world.

So there was excitement last week when non-listed Rusal finally got its hands on the 25 per cent of Norilsk owned by founder Mikhail Prokhorov. Might a new Russian champion soon be born? It is unlikely, at least in the short term. For a start, there is the problem of Norilsk’s other large shareholder, Vladimir Potanin. His motives are unclear, but at a recent emergency meeting he voted against three motions which were effectively in Rusal’s interests. So did Norilsk’s minority investors, who fear being the victims of an oligarch power-struggle.