Russian tycoons agree not to liquidate asset firm

MOSCOW, March 20 (Reuters) - Russian tycoons Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov agreed on Thursday not to liquidate the KM-Invest firm managing their joint assets, the company said in a statement.

A Russian arbitration court earlier blocked the sale of the assets managed by KM-Invest, including 2 percent in metals giant Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) (NKELyq.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and 7.4 percent in Russia's top gold producer Polyus Gold (PLZL.MM: Quote, Profile, Research) (PLZLq.L: Quote, Profile, Research), at Prokhorov's request.

Potanin and Prokhorov had been in a complex process of dividing their jointly owned assets, and their decision not to liquidate the asset management firm may indicate they have reached some kind of agreement.

KM-Invest gave no details of the agreement, adding that "the company's shareholders also agreed on a unified approach on voting with packages of Polyus Gold and Norilsk Nickel shares at emergency shareholders' meetings".

Prokhorov had been offering to buy Potanin's stakes in companies owned by KM-Invest, or to sell him his own on unspecified conditions, after KM-Invest's board approved the sale of the stakes in Polyus and Norilsk.

As Prokhorov's offer was not accepted, he demanded a liquidation of KM-Invest. (Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by David Cowell)