The Polymetal gold mining company, which announced its desire to split Russian and Kazakh assets, interested Vladislav Sviblov and Andrey Kozitsyn in the prospect of buying Highland Gold.
Due to the restrictions of the sanctions against Russia, the Polymetal International group of companies (its largest investor is ICT from Alexander Nesis with 23.9% of the shares) faced problems with logistics and maintenance of equipment, Kommersant recalls.
With reference to anonymous sources close to the companies, the structures of Vladislav Sviblov are more interested in the acquisition of assets, although the direct representatives of Highland Gold refuse to comment on the situation.
The publication notes that Sviblov has recently been actively investing in gold mining: in 2020 it bought Highland Gold and the Darkhan and Darasun mines, in 2021 – Trans-Siberian and Gold of Kamchatka, in 2022 – the Russian assets of the Kinross group.
According to the Union of Gold Producers of the Russian Federation, now his production facilities supply about 16 tons of gold, which allows us to say that the businessman’s assets rank third in the country after Polyus and Polymetal.
Polymetal does not comment on the “rumours”, but emphasizes that the company’s goals remain the same, that is, the topic is relevant.
At the same time, the group of companies has three options to reform its business: spin off the Russian assets into a separate company, buy them out by management and sell them to a third party while keeping the Kazakh branch.
In any case, Polymetal will first have to re-register, as it is now officially registered on the island of Jersey, i.e. in a “hostile jurisdiction”. This could hurt a potential deal.
Company reshuffle (change of jurisdiction and registration in a “friendly” country) will provide an opportunity to restore shareholder value and conduct mergers and acquisitions.
If the company’s management, which assured in January that there was no talk of a sale, approves the plans to change jurisdiction, the process could be completed this year. In this case, the separation of assets is possible in 2024.
According to one of Kommersant’s sources, UMMC (Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company) also claims Russian Polymetal assets: holding that unites about 50 companies Andrey Kozitsyn and Iskandar Makhmudov, who once arrived in 2022 and left the board of directors.
Author:
Ekaterina Alipova
Source: RB
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