Nord Gold plans to raise £1bn in IPO
RUSSIAN mining group Severstal’s gold unit Nord Gold is seeking up to £933m from a London float, that would see the firm valued at up to £2bn.
The conglomerate announced it would spin out its mining arm, a gold producer focussed on emerging markets, earlier this month.
Nord Gold is expected to begin trading in mid-February. The company plans to sell of 113.1m new shares and 94.9m existing shares at between 300p and 390p.
The listing of at least 25 per cent of the Russian gold miner is set to be the biggest mining float since Nate Rothschild’s $1bn (£628m) offering of investment shell Vallar last year.
Nord Gold has operations in Kazakhstan, Russia and West Africa, with eight producing mines, two development projects as well as five advanced exploration endeavours.
Severstal intends to use the net proceeds from the initial public offering share issue to repay debts and to fund its growth strategy via exploration and acquisitions.
Gold firms are in vogue as the precious metal is seen as a safe haven by investors.
MORGAN STANLEY
MORGAN Stanley is sole sponsor of the Nord Gold float, with Credit Suisse, Russian bank Troika Dialog and Morgan Stanley acting as joint bookrunners. Cannacord Genuity is acting as co-manager.
Morgan Stanley’s co-head of investment banking in Russia, Gergely Voros, and executive director Vladimir Samarin head the team.
Voros has been with Morgan Stanley’s London office since 1998, taking up his new role in April 2010. Before MS, he worked in Munich as a consultant for Boston Consulting Group and gained an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Voros has been involved in numerous capital raisings including the partial float of Russia’s state-owned Rosneft (currently in the headlines for its joint venture with BP), Vimetco and ENRC. Samarin worked for Bank of America, McDonald Investments and the Barrington Consulting Group before joining Morgan Stanley.
At Credit Suisse, Nicholas Koemtzopoulos, Laurent Charbonnier and Chris Byrne lead the team.
Charbonnier joined the bank in 2008 from UBS, and is a director on the metals and mining team.
Koemtzopoulos is responsible for equity capital markets in Russia and central and eastern Europe.