UPDATE 2: Russia’s Polyus says SPO volume at $879 mln

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MOSCOW, Jun 30 (PRIME) -- The volume of Russian gold producer Polyus’ secondary public offering (SPO) amounted to U.S. $879 million taking into account the option of oversubscription or $799 million without this option, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Polyus said earlier its board of directors set the SPO price at $66.5 per share.

Around 9% of the company’s shares were placed during the SPO, it said. The company’s market capitalization will thus amount to $8.882 billion, and the free float will grow to 16.4% from 6.76%.

“We are very pleased with the level of support and interest that Polyus received from the investment society… Over 100 investment funds, including some of the largest on the market, took part in the transaction,” CFO Pavel Grachyov was quoted as saying.

Boris Kvasov, director of equity capital markets at VTB Capital, one of the organizers, said that the bulk of the company’s shares were purchased by long-term investors.

“The deal enjoyed high-quality demand from investors. Most of them were long-term investors – they accounted for almost 80% of all allocations, including sovereign funds, which accounted for slightly less than 10%,” Kvasov said.

Russian pension funds also took part in the transaction and their share was less than 1%, he added.

Over 80 institutional investors have purchased the shares, Kvasov said.

Investors from the U.K. bought around half of the shares, Russian investors purchased slightly over 10%, and investors from Continental Europe also bought around 10%, he added.

Around 20% was purchased by investors from North America, including from Canada; investors from the Middle East bought less than 10%, he said.

A consortium of international investors formed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and leading sovereign funds of the Middle East took part in Polyus’ SPO, RDIF said.

“Investors from countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain took part in Polyus’ share placement,” RDIF said.

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