Russian Aluminum Tycoon Buys 25% of Nickel Giant.

The aluminum tycoon Oleg V. Deripaska said Thursday that he had bought 25 percent of the Arctic mining company Norilsk Nickel, a deal that furthers Mr. Deripaska's quest to consolidate the Russian metals and mining industry. The transaction continues a pattern in Russia of uniting companies separated in the breakup of the Soviet Union and the privatization trend in the 1990s into big new monopolies, either state-owned or controlled by executives loyal to the Kremlin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]