FIELD: chemistry of polymers. SUBSTANCE: present invention describes catalyst which is essentially catalyst mixture formed from reacting the following compounds ( at least one of each group); compounds of pyridine, clay and organonickel compounds. Present invention also describes method of preparing α--olefin polymers which comprises bringing at least one α--olefin in contact with catalyst mixture formed from reaction of at least one compound form each group of the following compounds, namely compounds of pyridine, clays and organonickel compounds. The claimed method makes it possible to control molecular weight of the designed product of polyolefins, and use of novel catalyst composition improves properties of the resulting polymers. EFFECT: improved properties of the catalyst composition. 29 cl, 1 ex, 5 tbl
