Russia Polyus Eyes Foreign Merger

Top Russian gold miner Polyus Gold (PLZL.RTS: Quote, Profile , Research), which is due to list on the London Stock Exchange on Monday, will consider a foreign merger. Polyus, which produces 18 percent of Russia's gold, has said it plans to create by 2015 a company with market capitalisation of $14 billion to $16.5 billion (7 billion to 8.4 billion pounds) and net annual cash flow of $600 million to $710 million. The firm was spun off this year from Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel.
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Another Russian Share Listing in London

Russian property developer RGI International Ltd. joined the trend and announced late on Wednesday it planned to raise about $175 million (89 million pounds) after listing on London's Alternative Investment Market (part of the London Stock Exchange), according to Reuters. The company, which specialises in high-end office, retail and residential property in central Moscow, said the offer price had been set at $6 per share. As a result, the market capitalisation of RGI after the listing would be about $593 million.

This is just the last from a series of Russian IPO's in the last few years that culminated with the initial public offering of the shares of the Russian energy giant Rosneft that raised $10.4 billion making it the fifth largest IPO in the world. According to RIA Novosti economic commentator Nina Kulikova, Russian IPO's abroad (mostly in London) raised $5 billion in 2005 and are expected to raise $20 billion in 2006. While the interest is the highest in the commodities sector, other firms like RGI International Ltd. are starting to float their shares as well.