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By Eric Onstad and Polina Devitt
LONDON (Reuters) - The London Metal Exchange (LME) won its appeal on Wednesday against a court ruling that had halted sweeping reform aimed at cutting backlogs in withdrawing metals from its global network of warehouses.
A three-judge panel at Britain's Court of Appeal overturned an original March ruling in favour of Russian aluminium giant Rusal <0486.HK>. That had derailed a key reform of the LME's warehouses because it regarded the consultation process as "unfair and unlawful".
"I conclude that the judge was wrong to say the consultation in this case was unlawful," Lady Justice Arden said in the ruling. The Court of Appeal also denied Rusal leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Rusal said however in a statement that it will be seeking permission to appeal the Court of Appeal's judgment to the Supreme Court.
The LME, the world's oldest and biggest market for industrial metals, will now be able to implement reforms designed to speed up deliveries of metal from depots in the LME's global network.
(Reporting by Eric Onstad, Harpreet Bhal, Veronica Brown in London and Polina Devitt in Moscow; Editing by Jason Neely and William Hardy)