25 Nov 2009 18:35

EM Alliance could list on RTS in Q1 2010

MOSCOW. Nov 25 (Interfax) - Directors at EM Alliance have decided in favor of listing the Russian power engineering company on the RTS stock exchange, the company said in a statement.

The company told Interfax that it intended to list during the first quarter of 2010. The company will list in order to determine the indicative value of its shares and level of interest in them. "Further decisions will be based on that," it said.

"We've always been focused on attracting investment capital to expand and diversify our business. The global crisis has forced adjustments, but sustained investor interest in the company justified our strategy," Igor Parkhomenko, the board chairman, was quoted as saying.

A source with knowledge of the company's plans told Interfax that EM Alliance was considering a public offering in time. "If the investment strategy used put focus on M&A, now the understanding is that these processes ought to be public," he said. EM Alliance has not yet decided how many shares it might place or how much it might raise with an IPO.

The Veles Capital investment group will advise EM Alliance on the listing procedure.

EM Alliance in May 2008 announced plans for a private placement of up to 50% plus one share and that a strategic investor might be sought to bring in new technologies and facilitate the expansion of the company's business. The plans were supposed to come to fruition by the end of 2008, but the company put the placement on hold in September "until the global financial markets stabilization stabilizes."

Industry sources said several foreign companies that had been interested in the shares suggested at the end of last year that EM Alliance resumes talks about selling the shares. Short-listed at the time were Alstom, Foster Wheeler, Shanghai Electric and VHL, and they were interested in buying between 25% and 50% minus one share for up to $1 billion. EM Alliance has neither confirmed nor denied this.

EM Alliance produces and repairs equipment for boiler island power stations. It owns 75% of the Krasny Kotelschik (Red Boiler) plant and has branches Taganrog, Podolsk, Barnaul and Ivanovo. Auburn Investments Ltd is the sole owner of EM Alliance. Yevgeny Tugolukov is the main beneficiary of Auburn Investments.