The largest iron ore producer in Russia is planning to sell 20% of its shares on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). This move of Metalloinvest will expect to value the company at £12.3 billion.
The float that is expected to take place in the next couple of months will hopefully rekindle the confidence in LSE listings as a number of Russian companies backed out of them this month.
The group is 50% owned by one of the richest men in Russia Alisher Usmanov. Alisher Usmanov is also the part owner of the Arsenal football club. He is also the man who provided financial assistance for launching Mail.ru a Russian social networking internet company that was listed in the London Stock Exchange in November 2010 for £570 million.
Some of the companies that cancelled London Stock Exchange listings this month include the Kremlin controlled bank VTB which pulled out its 10% listing when it was oversubscribed. Another company Severstal which is a mining group had proposed a £900 million listing on the LSE for its gold unit called Nord Gold. However the float has been postponed.
The new of Nord Gold’s postponement of listing came after ChelPipe an oil industry pipe maker cancelled its listing. Coal and iron producer Koks also withdrew from a proposed listing as did the Russian pumps manufacturer HMS Hydraulic.