PhosAgro places shares at $42 in SPO, raising $470 mln; free float could reach 20%
MOSCOW. April 10 (Interfax) - Russian fertilizer maker PhosAgro placed shares in an SPO for $42 each or $14 per GDR (three GDR per share), the company said in a statement.
In all PhosAgro sold 11.111 million shares - almost 9% of charter capital - raising about $470 million.
The bid book was closed on Tuesday evening. A source close to the placement said that bids were received from almost 100 institutional investors. The size of the placement makes PhosAgro a candidate for inclusion on the MSCI Russia index, the source said. The list of the stocks included in the index will next come up for review in late April-early May.
The shares are being sold by Cyprus-registered Adorabella Limited, Miles Ahead Management Limited and Chlodwig Enterprises Limited. According to a PhosAgro memorandum for a Eurobond issue, those shares have been transferred into a trust whose ultimate beneficiaries are Murmansk region's Senator Andrei Guryev and members of his family.
PhosAgro will subsequently place supplementary shares, and the SPO sellers will spend about 45% of the sale proceeds to buy 5,022,920 shares.
The PhosAgro board approved placement of supplementary shares for $42 each at a meeting on April 9. The shares will be sold in a public placement beginning on April 10. The list of individuals and organizations with right of first refusal to buy the shares is based on the register of shareholders as of October 19, 2012.
A source in banking circles said PhosAgro's free float following the SPO totals about 20%.
The company plans to use the proceeds from the supplementary share placement to buy back shares from minority shareholders OJSC Apatit and OJSC PhosAgro-Cherepovets, for general corporate purposes and to expand capacity.
PhosAgro's GDRs were quoted at $14.15 each at the close of trading on the London Stock Exchange on April 9, down from $14.77 at the close on April 8.
PhosAgro carried out an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange on July 13, 2011. The offering to investors, including a green shoe option, totaled 10.8% of the company's charter capital. During the IPO, shares belonging to Murmansk Senator Andrei Guryev were sold (prior to the placement, he controlled 81% of PhosAgro, and another 10% belonged to Rector of the St. Petersburg State Mining University Vladimir Litvinenko). After the placement, the PhosAgro stake held by Guryev's structures fell to about 70%.