Mechel mere step away from IPO as it finishes building up a mining unit
20.08.2010 (11:34)
Mechel Mining has added Bluestone Coal to its pile of assets. The parent company, Mechel, has surrendered 100 percent in the US-based coking coal company to its mining subdivision.Once it completes the mining assets consolidation, Mechel Mining is expected to go into an IPO.
Mechel Mining became the sole owner of Greenhill Coîperatief U.A. (a Netherlands-based subsidiary of Mechel that controlled the coal miner Bluestone Coal). Immediately after the move, Mechel announced that it changed its stake in the authorized capital of Greenhill Cooperatief U.A. from 100 to 0 percent – a development meaning that Mechel Mining, which previously had had no stake in Greenhill, joined its ownership structure.
As reported earlier, Mechel has set up several asset management companies since 2008: Mechel Mining, Mechel Steel, Mechel Ferroalloys, Mechel Energo and Mechel Trans. Mechel Mining has consolidated all of the group’s production assets.
Even before the crisis, the company, controlled by Igor Zyuzin, had plans to make its mining division public. Back then, Mechel announced that it could float up to 20 percent of the mining shares, and expected to raise $4bn. The idea was then revived after UC Rusal’s decision to stage an IPO in Hong Kong. With Mechel Mining being Mechel’s most profitable segment, it could have raised up to $2.5bn in an IPO. Furthermore, Mechel is in need of cash at the moment – specifically, for the development of the Elga field. The company expects the field to start producing coal as early as this November. Chairman of Mechel’s board of directors Igor Zyuzin confirmed the timeline at last week’s meeting on coal industry development with Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin.
www.rbcnews.com
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