Russian gold miner Polyus leaving London Stock Exchange

MOSCOW. July 25 (Interfax) - Polyus , Russia's biggest gold producer, is leaving the London Stock Exchange, as the delisting of its Global Depositary Receipts (GDR) is expected to go into effect on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time.

The decision to delist was made in light of the recent imposition of blocking U.S. and UK sanctions against Polyus, the company said earlier. Trading of the miner's GDRs, along with those of 26 other Russian companies was suspended in March 2022.

After leaving the LSE, Polyus will maintain its listing on the Moscow Exchange.

Polyus was listed on the LSE in 2006 after being spun off from Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel). Polyus bought back its GDRs and left the LSE in 2015, leaving only a small percentage of shares trading on the Moscow Exchange, but in 2017 the company fully returned to the public market.

Polyus mines hard rock and alluvial deposits in Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk and Magadan regions and Yakutia. In July, Polyus approved a program to buy back up to 30% of shares and stopped disclosing the company's shareholder structure until its completion. Prior to that, the miner's largest shareholders were the Fund for Support of Islamic Organizations with 46% and Akhmet Palankoyev's Akropol Group with almost 30%.