MOSCOW, March 7 - RAPSI, Sergei Feklyunin. The Moscow Commercial Court has registered lawsuits filed by Silvinit's minority shareholders against the lower court decision on the legality of the company's merger into Uralkali, Russia's leading potassium fertilizer producer.

Silvinit's shareholders, Akron, Licona (International) Limited, Medvezhonok Holdings Limited, ROF (Cyprus) Limited and Sokol Russian Equity Capital Partners, seek to invalidate the merger decision made during an irregular shareholders meeting on February 4, 2011, and the treaty on the merger into Uralkali.

They also seek the court's invalidation of the Silvinit board of directors' December 20, 2010 decision regarding the share buyout price and the terms of the companies' share swap.

Uralkali and Silvinit announced the acquisition deal in December 2010. In January the majority of both companies shareholders (98.9 percent of Uralkali's shareholders and 90.9 percent of Silvinits shareholders) approved the acquisition.

The acquisition has resulted in the establishment of the world's third largest potash chloride producer, which will account for a 42 percent share of the global market.