Russia-focused gold miner Nordgold postpones London IPO

Published : 3 years ago, on 22/06/2021

By Polina Devitt and Abhinav Ramnarayan

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia-focused gold producer Nordgold said on Tuesday it had decided to postpone the initial public offering (IPO) of its shares in London, the largest such deal to withdraw from a stock market listing in recent weeks.

Across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, companies have cancelled plans to list as investors have shown signs of fatigue following a record number of offerings, some of which have performed poorly after listing.

Nordgold, majority owned by Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov and his two sons, planned to offer 25% or more of its shares for a premium London listing. Sources have said it was targeting a valuation of $5 billion.

Its cancellation could worry some of the 30 other companies expected to launch deals from September onwards, especially those in the gold and resources sector.

The gold market had its worst week in more than a year, falling by 6% last week after U.S. Federal Reserve signalled interest rates could rise into 2023.

“Recent central bank comments indicating an acceleration in expected interest rate rises have created significant uncertainty and volatility in the resources sector, in particular impacting gold and gold equities,” Chief Executive Nikolai Zelenski said in a statement.

“Nordgold has determined that it would therefore not be sensible to pursue an IPO at this particular juncture,” he said.

The gold producer, which operates mines in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Kazakhstan and Russia, did not say when it would be willing to offer its shares again.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt, Abhinav Ramnarayan and Anastasia Lyrchikova; Editing by Edmund Blair and Barbara Lewis)