Polymetal expects to redomicile in Kazakhstan on schedule

MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - Polymetal , Russia's largest silver producer and one of the country's biggest gold miners, sill plans to redomicile to the Astana International Financial Center in Kazakhstan, the company said.

The United States on Friday imposed blocking sanctions against JSC Polymetal, the group's subsidiary in Russia. JSC Polymetal is a legal entity registered in Russia that which acts, among other things, as the holding company for the group's assets located in Russia, the company said.

Polymetal said it expects that, subject to continuing sanctions compliance and shareholder approval at an upcoming general meeting, the redomiciliation in Kazakhstan will proceed on schedule.

Polymetal said it plans to "further explore opportunities to restore shareholder value, including any separation by jurisdiction of the Group's assets, as soon as practicable, following the re-domiciliation, subject always to compliance with all applicable laws, including sanctions and counter-sanctions."

Polymetal said the imposed sanctions applied only to JSC Polymetal and its subsidiaries. Neither its Jersey-registered parent company, Polymetal International plc, nor its entities outside the Russian Federation were included in the sanctions list. That is, Polymetal and its operations outside Russia, including assets in Kazakhstan, are not subject to blocking sanctions; the ban on transactions by entities from the United States does not apply to the company itself, its non-sanctioned subsidiaries or non-sanctioned affiliates.

JSC Polymetal said its inclusion in the SDN List would not affect the company's business and its assets in Russia. "All Russian enterprises of JSC Polymetal continue to operate as usual, obligations to the state (tax payments), creditors, partners and employees are being honored in full," JSC Polymetal said. "It was clear that sooner or later such a situation might arise, and preparations for it had been made in advance. We separated assets in the two countries where we operate quite a while ago, having effectively set up two parallel systems of sales, logistics and financing," the company said.

Polymetal has operations in the Magadan and Sverdlovsk regions, the Khabarovsk Territory, Yakutia, Chukotka, and Kazakhstan. Polymetal's largest shareholder is ICT Group owned by Alexander Nesis and associates with around 24%