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bne Invest
March 22, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 14
Abramovich continues sell-off with disposal of 1.8% stake in Russia’s Evraz metals major
Russian metals maker Evraz will take 1.8%
of the shares sold by structures of its main shareholders Roman Abramovich, Alexander Abramov, Alexander Frolov and Evgency Shvidler, the company said on March 18.
The stake in Evraz is valued at about $212.5mn based on a market capitalisation of $11.8bn on the London Stock Exchange. Almost half of the stake will be sold through an accelerated bookbuilding by Greenleas International Holdings of Abramovich for around $95.6mn, a third by Abiglaze Limited Abramov, and the rest by Frolov and Shvidler.
Earlier this month, Abramovich and Abramov held an overnight accelerated book-build for
a secondary public offering (SPO) of a roughly 1.7% stake in metals major Norilsk Nickel with about a 12% discount to the market.
Sberbank CIB saw the Norilsk Nickel the deal as "opportunistic, price-driven and reflecting Abramov- ich's earlier intention to monetize his investment."
Previous reports also indicated that Abramovich is restructuring his major assets to shield them from possible US sanctions. In August 2018 Abramovich cut his stake in Crispian Investments that holds a stake in Russian metals Norilsk Nickel by 0.05% to 49.95%.
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Petrochemical major Sibur prepares to pay record-high dividend
The board of directors of Russian petrochemical major Sibur voted to pay a record-high dividend of RUB33.8bn ($0.5bn) for 2018, which would already include RUB11bn paid in 1H18 and leave RUB22.8bn to be distributed for 2H118, the company said on March 14.
Current Sibur's dividend policy sees a minimum dividend payment at 25% of annual adjusted IFRS profit. RUB33.8bn would thus be a minimum possible dividend payment on RUB135.2bn profit recorded for 2018.
The 2018 payout would exceed the 2017 dividends by over 38%. Throughout the end of 2018 Sibur was in focus as the company was expected to an- nounce a highly anticipated IPO, to raise $2bn-3bn based on a valuation of $20bn-$26bn.
With the construction of a new petrochemical
processing facility in Tobolsk, in Siberia, the company’s current investment cycle is coming to an end and as growth plateaus the board believes that this is the right time to consider an IPO, Sibur CEO Dmitry Konov told bne IntelliNews in an exclusive interview, “Plastics in the snow:
Sibur takes the lead in Russia's burgeoning petrochemical sector,” in December 2018.
If it happens then Sibur’s IPO would not only make Russia's biggest IPO in more than a decade, but it would also be a litmus test of the attractiveness of Russia's largest names in the face of the mount- ing sanction pressure.
Russia's largest petrochemical holding is con- trolled by Kremlin insiders Leonid Mikhelson (48.5%), Gennady Timchenko (17%), and Kirill Shamalov (3.9%). Chinese Sinopec and the Silk Road fund each acquired 10% in the company.