Norilsk Nickel spends $160 mln on buyback from limit of $500 mln
MOSCOW. Aug 31 (Interfax) - Norilsk Nickel since the start its buyback program has spent 9.656 billion rubles ($159.8 million), having accumulated 0.64% of charter capital, the company said in a press release.
In particular, on August 24-28, 48,070 shares (0.03%) were bought on the Moscow Exchange for 485 million rubles (about $ 7 million).
The coordinator of Norilsk Nickel's buyback, which began on July 9, is Citibank. In this time the cost of shares on the Moscow Exchange rose 16% to 10,430 rubles.
In April, Norilsk Nickel announced the plans for a buyback of shares from the market for $500 million in the framework of a program to raise the company's capitalization. The program was recommended to Norilsk Nickel by consultants with the goal of liquidating the undervaluation of shares. After the completion of the buyback, the company promises to cancel the shares. The board of directors of the company earlier approved the first stage of the buyback for a sum of up to 14 billion rubles.
Vladimir Potanin's Interros owns a 30.3% stake in Norilsk Nickel, Rusal owns 27.8%. Millhouse's stake is 5.87% and Metalloinvest owns 3.2%.