Rusal to change board in bid to persuade U.S. to lift sanctions: sources

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Rusal will overhaul its board and management in the hope the United States will remove the aluminium firm from a sanctions list so it can restart shipments to its customers around the world, two sources told Reuters.

The sources, familiar with the developments but who asked not to be named because they are not allowed to speak publicly on the issue, said Rusal would soon appoint a fully independent board, which in turn would appoint a new management team.

"Rusal is in touch with U.S. authorities and hopes the measure will be enough for them to be removed from the sanctions list," one of the two sources said.

The source added Rusal also hoped its top shareholder Oleg Deripaska, who was put alongside Rusal on a U.S. Specially Designated Nationals blacklist, could keep his stake in the firm at 48 percent under the arrangement.

"Forty eight percent is not a controlling stake of 50 percent, which under the U.S. rules triggers the sanctions," the source said.

The source added Rusal, the world's second largest aluminium producer, was still not shipping to customers around the world awaiting guidance from U.S. authorities.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt and Dmitry Zhdannikov; editing by Jason Neely)