Russia's Polyus says prices its SPO at lower end of range (updated)

Polyus PAO

30/06/2017 07:07

(Adds details, quotes, context) 
    By Polina Devitt and Diana Asonova 
    MOSCOW, June 30 (Reuters) - Polyus  PLZL.MM , Russia's 
largest gold producer, on Friday priced its share placement in 
Moscow and London at $66.50 per share, at the lower end of the 
previously announced range. 
    Polyus, controlled by the family of Russian tycoon Suleiman 
Kerimov, delisted from the London Stock Exchange in 2015 after 
Western sanctions over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis began 
to bite for Russian companies. 
    It returns to London buoyed by an 8 percent rise in global 
gold prices  XAU=  this year and by a separate $887 million deal 
to sell 10 percent of the company to a Chinese consortium led by 
Fosun International  0656.HK .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1JC112 
    Appetite for Russian assets in general has also been 
strengthening since the start of this year, driven by a rising 
oil price and expectations that U.S. President Donald Trump 
would ease fraught U.S.-Russian relations. 
    Market optimism has been tempered though in the past few 
weeks, with Trump embroiled in a row at home over his 
associates' ties to Russia, and the United States imposing a 
fresh round of sanctions on some Russian entities. 
    Polyus's price range was previously set at $33.25-$35.30 per 
global depositary share in London, corresponding to a price of 
$66.50-$70.60 per ordinary share in Moscow. The company was 
offering between 7 and 9 percent of its shares, including new 
shares.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nR4N1JJ014 
    British investors bought about half of the share offering, 
VTB Capital, a bookrunner on the deal, said in a separate 
statement. The share of investors from North America totalled 
around 20 percent of the deal, it added.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nR4N1JJ01T 
    Russian, European and Middle Eastern investors each took 
about 10 percent of the offering, Boris Kvasov, the head of 
equity capital markets at VTB Capital, was quoted as saying in 
the statement. 
    Long-term investors took about 80 percent of the total 
allocation, including sovereign funds. Russian pension funds 
took less than 1 percent, Kvasov added. 
 
 (Reporting by Polina Devitt and Diana Asonova; editing by 
Christian Lowe) 
 ((Polina.Devitt@thomsonreuters.com; +7 495 775 12 42; Reuters 
Messaging: polina.devitt.reuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: RUSSIA POLYUS/SPO