Polymetal looks to capitalize on slumping gold prices, buy assets
MOSCOW. Sept 25 (Interfax) - Polymetal International plc , which controls Russia's biggest silver and large gold producer OJSC Polymetal , wants to take advantage of the drop in gold prices to buy assets in the FSU, company chief Vitaly Nesis said during an address at a gold industrialists forum in Denver.
"The situation with gold prices now is such that it opportunities are opening for the acquisition of assets. We are very interested in making use of this opportunity to increase our base," Nesis said.
The company is not planning to expand beyond the bounds of the former Soviet Union, he said.
Polymetal announced its strategic orientation toward the purchase of assets within the former USSR a while back. It said it was interested in assets in Kazakhstan, Armenia, Ukraine, the Russian Far East, and the Urals. It has enterprises in Magadan and Sverdlovsk Regions, Khabarovsk Territory, Chukotka and Kazakhstan. It produced 1.063 million ounces of gold equivalent in 2012.
The company's principal beneficiaries are Alexander Nesis's IST Group (17.9%), Petr Kellner's PPF Group (20.86%), Alexander Mamut (10.12%), Alexander Mosionzhik's MBC Development (4.44%), and the former director of Baltiysky Zavod shipyard Oleg Shulyakovsky (4.27%). Free float is 51%.