Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire, is preparing to float a second resource company in Hong Kong just three months after the controversial $2.2bn initial public offering of Rusal, his aluminium group.
Strikeforce Mining and Resources aims to raise as much as $200m this month, according to people close to the deal, in what would be the second Hong Kong share sale by a Russian company.
SMR, part of Mr Deripaska's Basic Element holding group, started gauging demand from institutional investors on Monday with a view to starting an official management roadshow next week. Unlike with Rusal, retail investors will be able to participate in the SMR offering, the people said.
The Securities and Futures Commission and the Hong Kong stock exchange declined to comment on Monday.
SMR and its bookrunners – BOC International Holdings, the investment banking unit of Bank of China, Deutsche Bank and Renaissance Capital – are keen to impress upon investors that the company is markedly different to Rusal.
The Rusal IPO left investors nursing heavy losses. The shares have tumbled 21 per cent since the company listed in January, even as the Hong Kong stock market and the aluminium price moved higher.
“What we're talking about here [with SMR] is a much smaller situation and a company that is much easier to understand [than Rusal],” said a person close to the deal.
The Rusal listing was dogged by delays as Hong Kong regulators debated whether to allow the company to sell shares. The SFC eventually limited the offering to professional investors due to concerns over Rusal's $14.9bn debts.
SMR, which stands for SoyuzMetallResurs, is the country's biggest producer of molybdenum, a metal used to make high-strength steel. Its international competitors include China Molybdenum, worth $3.86bn and listed in Hong Kong, and Thompson Creek Metals, worth $1.79bn and listed in New York.
The group also produces copper and is one of the world's biggest suppliers of ferromolybdenum to the global market.
If all goes to plan, SMR will price the offering on May 20, before listing on May 27. That would pave the way for more Hong Kong offerings from Mr Deripaska's business empire.
In January, Andrei Elinson, deputy chief executive of Basic Element, told Bloomberg there were “several candidates” for IPOs in the group, whose interests span energy, manufacturing, financial services, construction and aviation.
EuroSibEnergo, the electrical power division of Mr Deripaska's conglomerate, may list in Hong Kong this year to raise up to $1bn, people close to the matter have said. The division is one of Russia's largest operating power companies, running 14 power stations in Siberia and the Volga region, including hydroelectric stations in Krasnoyarsk and Bratsk.
source:www.ft.com
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