Gold mining company Nordgold, controlled by Russian businessman Alexei Mordashov, may acquire global depositary receipts (GDRs) from minority shareholders for $118 million with own funds in the framework of a planned delisting from the London Stock Exchange (LSE), CEO Nikolai Zelensky said.
Earlier Nordgold confirmed its LSE delisting plans and said it had offered to buy back GDRs from minority holders at $3.45 per security.
The company said, explaining the reasons for the delisting, that the market capitalization did not reflect a fair price of its securities. A low trading volume and a general GDR liquidity deficit are the main reason for that.
The buyback price is weighted average for five previous trading sessions. The acquisition will be carried out until March 16.
The shareholders of the company will have a chance to sell the securities at this price four more times: after publication of financial reports for January-June, for the entire 2017, for January-June 2018, and for the entire 2018.
The charter capital of Nordgold consists of 370.936 million common shares with a face value of 1 euro each. GDRs correspond to 51.336 million shares, of which majority shareholders own 17.006 million shares. This means that Nordgold can buy back up to 34.329 million shares, or 9.27% of the charter capital. (Prime/Ukrainian metal)