Petropavlovsk shares delisted from LSE

MOSCOW. July 20 (Interfax) - Petropavlovsk shares have been delisted from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) beginning on Wednesday, the exchange said.

On Monday, Petropavlovsk announced that the company had appointed external administrators, which indicated the beginning of insolvency proceedings. The company has since applied to cancel the listing of its shares and convertible bonds on the LSE and cease trading its shares on the Moscow Exchange .

The addition of Gazprombank , which was Petropavlovsk's main creditor and buyer, to the U.K. sanctions list made it difficult for the company to sell gold and service its debt, and the gold miner began missing interest payments. In April, Gazprombank demanded early repayment from Petropavlovsk of $201 million including interest on the parent company's loan and $87.1 million on the credit lines of its subsidiaries. Shortly thereafter, it assigned the rights to the liabilities of the parent company to a firm affiliated with UMMC, and the subsidiaries to Nordic. However, this did not relieve the gold miner from early repayment of its obligations.

Petropavlovsk has tapped consultants to analyze options to resolve the current situation, including the possible sale of the company's stakes in production facilities. According to the gold miner, it is in talks with two potential buyers.

Petropavlovsk is developing gold deposits in the Amur Region and is one of the top five Russian gold miners. Konstantin Strukov remains the largest shareholder of Petropavlovsk with a stake of about 29%.