Old news - from Jan 20 WSJ (edited) Russian gold miner Nord Gold UK Societas, or Nordgold, is looking to list in London as early as this summer, capitalizing on the precious metal’s long price run to become the largest mining company to float globally in at least five years, according to people familiar with the matter.
Nordgold’s initial public offering could value it at more than $5 billion and would float over 25% of the company, some of these people say. With two Canadian gold miners moving their listing to the U.K., Nordgold’s IPO is a boost for London’s financial district amid concerns that Brexit makes it less attractive.
A spokesman for the U.K.-domiciled company, which has 10 mines in Africa, Russia and Kazakhstan, said it is evaluating various strategic options, which may include an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. He declined to comment further.
The company has already hired banks to lead the IPO, according to a person familiar with the matter. Bacchus Capital is Nordgold’s financial adviser for the possible offering.
Gold miners are looking to London after Randgold was delisted from the LSE following its acquisition by Canada’s Barrick Gold Corp. That left a space for peers to tap London based investors....
Toronto-based Yamana Gold Inc. added a London listing last year and Canada’s Endeavour Mining Corp oration has said it wants a secondary listing in London as well. Barrick Gold itself has debated a move to the New York Stock Exchange in the past, the company’s chief executive officer told The Wall Street Journal.
Nordgold’s London float, though, would be the miner’s only listing and among the largest mining IPOs since South32 Ltd. was valued at 11.3 billion Australian dollars, or just over $9 billion, in May 2015.