Russian gold miner Nordgold is delisting from the London Stock Exchange
Russia's Nordgold today said it will delist from the London Stock Exchange to revamp its valuation.
Owned by Russia's richest man, billionaire Alexey Mordashov, the gold miner said it has failed to increase its market capitalisation in line with rallying gold prices.
Nordgold said its global depositary receipts (GDRs) were undervalued because of low trading volumes and general lack of liquidity caused by the company's capital structure.
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Changes to Nordgold's performance are "unlikely to overcome this structural disadvantage", the company said.
Shareholders will be given the choice to sell their GDRs to the company at $3.45 (£2.75) each or hold onto their stake, Nordgold said.
The miner intends to continue making quarterly operational and financial updates and may return to the public markets in the future as a larger producer.
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"The fact is our GDRs have never reflected the true value of the business," said David Morgan, chairman of Nordgold.
He added: "As a result, a premium listing at current market values would be highly dilutive to current investors and therefore not in the interests of all shareholders. A period away from the public markets will enable us to both progress our development pipeline and de-couple from a deep discount on the public markets."
Nordgold increased production from 589,000 ounces in 2010 to 869,000 ounces in 2016, and it predicts it will produce in the range of 900,000 to 950,000 ounces at all-in sustaining costs of $900 to $950 per ounce in 2017.
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