Kerimov sells 3.84% of Polyus for $390 mln at 6.6% discount, free float increases to 20.5%
MOSCOW. April 4 (Interfax) - The placement price in the offering of shares in PJSC Polyus , Russia's biggest gold producer, was $38 per GDR ($76 per share), the company reported.
This was an expected result, as on Wednesday evening the organizers told investors that bids below $38 might not be accepted.
The sale price of the GDR represents a discount of 6.6% to the closing price of $40.70 on the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday. Based on the Central Bank of Russia's exchange rate for April 4, the placement price for the common shares was 4,952.50 rubles. For local shares, the discount was slightly higher, at 6.9% to the closing price of 5,320 rubles on the Moscow Exchange on Wednesday.
The amount of the placement was increased in the bookbuild. Said Kerimov's Polyus Gold International Ltd (PGIL) sold 5.13 million or 3.84% of the gold miner's shares while the initially planned amount was 4.67 million or 3.5%.
PGIL grossed about $390 million in the sale. Polyus will not receive any proceeds from the sale, which increased the company's free float to 20.5% while reducing Kerimov's stake to 78.6%.
The placement was carried out in an accelerated bookbuild (ABB), with Goldman Sachs, GPB International, J.P. Morgan, Sberbank CIB and VTB Capital acting as joint global co-ordinators and bookrunners.
PGIL has agreed to a 60-day lock-up with respect to further sales of ordinary shares
or GDR of the company following the completion of the placement.
The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) planned to take part in the offering in partnership with Middle Eastern funds, a source familiar with the ABB told Interfax on Wednesday evening. The RDIF took part in Polyus's SPO in 2017, when it brought in co-investors from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain.
Since that offering, which was worth a total of $858 million, company management has repeatedly said that in the long-term Polyus is intent on increasing its free float, but they did not specify the timing, amount or sources of a share offering.