Menage a trois Ohhh la laSeverstal reports tomorrow morning. Word has it that Severstal is going to fip one of their steel companies. which if
true would free up cash and toss debt.
I found this article, and on the surface could be possible, and like others pointed out shows what the market cap could be. The article is based on Endeavour's run and Crew Gold. What the article fails to point out the the other 38% of HRG that Severstal and Troika do not own.
The talk going around is that Severstal also owns 50.1% of High River Gold, with another 18.8% held by Polenica Investments (Russian) and Endeavour also holds 55% of the outstanding shares of Etruscan. Could a New Gold (NGD)-style, three-way merger happen to create a significant new West African-focused gold producer?
According to a Cannacord newsletter, the combined market cap of these companies would be $1.3 billion, which would put it on par with Semafo (SMF), which has an approximate $1.2-billion market cap. Such an entity would have combined annual production of roughly 645,000 ounces of gold per year (~30% more than Red Back Mining (RBI), currently, and 166% higher than SMF). Crew, High River and Etruscan are all stories that have been labouring under precarious balance sheets that have undergone restructuring recently. This would create a new, liquid, leveraged gold producer in West Africa and Russia, that could continue to consolidate in the region, with roughly US$178 million in long-term debt and roughly US$100 million in working capital.
Since the stock has seen such a strong run in the short term, it may consolidate some of these gains, and likely hold a new support.
CJ