外媒：Petropavlovsk铁矿石业务估价达10亿美元

Petropavlovsk Plc’s IRC Ltd. iron- ore unit, due to list on the Hong Kong stock exchange next month, may be valued at about $1 billion in its initial public offering, VTB Capital said.

Petropavlovsk said Sept. 10 it had decided to proceed with the IPO as it seeks to boost the value of Russian assets. The London-based company already got investment from Hong Kong in June, when the Asia Resources Fund agreed to invest $60 million in its iron-ore unit, valuing the division at $860 million.

“This could be a rough indication of the deal’s value, but we believe it could in fact easily exceed $900 million to $1 billion,” Alexander Pukhaev, a Moscow-based analyst at VTB, said today in a note. Chinese funding may help IRC develop its deposits in Russia’s Far East, “unlocking its value,” he said.

Petropavlovsk, Russia’s third-largest gold producer, joins commodity companies including aluminum maker United Co. Rusal in seeking funds in Hong Kong as Chinese raw-material demand jumps. Petropavlovsk acquired iron-ore assets in Russia through its 294.5 million-pound ($455 million) purchase of Aricom Plc in 2009, buying back a company it spun off in 2003.

IRC will benefit from increasing Chinese demand and a “positive outlook” for iron-ore prices, which may increase more than 7 percent a year on average through 2014, Pukhaev wrote in the note.

（来源：Bloomberg）