SUEK preparing for IPO in Moscow, London in H1 2010
MOSCOW. Dec 21 (Interfax) - Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) plans to conduct an IPO on stock exchanges in London and Moscow in the first half of 2010, the Independent reported.
UBS, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Russian Renaissance and VTB have expressed interest, the newspaper said.
The majority of those banks have told the SUEK board that placement of 25% of shares would value the entire company at $8 billion-$9 billion.
A second round of meetings with the banks is planned this week, after which the company could make a decision on appointments, it said.
Board chairman Alexander Landia will not be commenting on the report before January, an assistant to Landia told Interfax.
SUEK is Russia's biggest coal producer. It owns a number of electricity assets in Siberia and the Far East. The company had been preparing for an IPO last year, until the markets froze up during the crisis. SUEK beneficiaries Sergei Popov and Andrei Melnichenko planned to place up to 30% of shares in the form of GDR, raising $500 million-$1 billion depending on the final volume of the offer and market conditions. The GDR had been planned for the first quarter of 2009. Morgan Stanley, Citi and Renaissance Capital were to be the organizers, according to unofficial reports. In the fall SUEK officials said the company would be ready to conduct an IPO as soon as the stock market recovered.
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