Controlling shareholder of Russia’s Polyus selling a 3.5% stake via ABB

The controlling shareholder of Polyus, Russia’s largest gold producer, said on Wednesday it would sell a 3.5 percent stake in the company via an accelerated bookbuilding (ABB).

The controlling shareholder is Polyus Gold International Ltd (PGIL), owned by Said Kerimov, son of Russian tycoon Suleiman Kerimov.

PGIL, which currently owns 82.4 percent of Polyus, plans to sell 4.67 million shares. After the deal, PGIL will own 78.9 percent, and Polyus’s free float will increase to 20.2 percent, it said.

Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF and its partners, including some Middle East funds, will buy some of the shares in Polyus as part of the deal, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters.

Shares in Polyus in Moscow closed down 3 percent at 5,320 roubles per share on Wednesday. Based on this price, the ABB deal may be worth about 24.8 billion roubles ($381 million).

Goldman Sachs International, Bank GPB International S.A., J.P. Morgan Securities plc, Sberbank CIB (UK) Limited and VTB Capital plc are acting as bookrunners for the placing.

($1 = 65.2402 roubles)

(By Clara Denina and Polina Devitt; Editing by Susan Fenton and Alexandra Hudson)