Ruspetro, an oil explorer with Russian assets, could price a delayed $300 million London initial public offering (IPO) this week, a source familiar with the situation said on Monday. The deal would be the first London main market float of 2012, against a backdrop of turbulent market conditions that has forced others to postpone similar plans.
Russian newspaper Vedomosti, which earlier reported the timing of the planned IPO, said Ruspetro would sell 30 percent of shares this week, all of which will be newly issued.
That could potentially value the company at more than $1 billion, the source said. Ruspetro wants to raise $250 million-$350 million from the IPO, according to a corporate presentation seen by Reuters, with all proceeds going to the company.
Up to $212 million would go on existing operations and up to $138 million would be used to repay debt, the presentation said. Ruspetro hopes to reduce its debt by a third to $331 million as a result of the IPO.
It had hoped to announce a pricing for the IPO on December 15, according to the presentation shown to potential investors, having opened the order book earlier that month. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Renaissance Capital are organising the float.
Ruspetro, which has oil assets in western Siberia and which lifted production to 4,500 barrels a day in 2011 from 1,060 the previous year, is 29 percent owned by management including Alexander Chistyakov, a former serial director of state utility firms.
Chief Executive Donald Wolcott is a former director of Yukos, the now defunct oil company owned by jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Ruspetro declined to comment.