GV Gold, Russia's seventh-largest gold producer, has postponed its initial share offering to autumn from May because of poor market conditions, a banking source said on Friday. "The company had a choice - to sell cheap or take a decision to postpone," the source said. The IPO roadshow had been scheduled to begin on May 28.
The firm withdrew its first attempt to list in February, saying the initial price did not reflect its future prospects. A second attempt started this week with a sale of a 10 percent stake to a British investment fund for $40 million. The private placement with Blackrock Investment Management Ltd accounted for about a third of the 30 percent GV Gold had intended to float.
Sources close to the offering said analysts had valued GV Gold, majority owned by six Russian citizens including chairman Sergei Dokuchayev, at between $451 million and $530 million.
For its initial IPO attempt, GV Gold set a price range of $85.5 to $103 per share and $8.55 to $10.30 per global depository receipt, which would have valued the company between $428 million and $515 million.
GV Gold was founded in 1998 by Lanta-Bank, a commercial bank active in the Russian precious metals market, and Lenzoloto, which has since been acquired by the country's top gold miner, Polyus Gold. The company operates the Golets Vysochaishy mine in the Irkutsk region of eastern Siberia. It produced 2.7 tonnes, or 86,967 ounces, of gold last year.