外媒：俄Petropavlovsk铁矿IPO融资减半为2.4亿美元

概述：俄罗斯第三大金矿生产商Petropavlovsk旗下铁矿公司IRC Ltd将其在香港首次公开发行融资减半至2.4亿美元。IRC今年上半年铁矿损失5170万美元，去年总共损失达1.25亿美元。在全球经济复苏速度缓慢的大背景下，全球延缓了近98个IPO项目，IRC不得不降低其融资总额度。

Petropavlovsk Iron Ore Unit Cuts Size of IPO in Half to About $240 Million

Petropavlovsk Plc’s iron ore unit, IRC Ltd., cut the size of its initial public offering in Hong Kong by more than half to about $240 million, according to a sales document sent to fund managers today.

IRC will offer new shares at a fixed price of HK$1.80 apiece, or 40 percent off the high end of an earlier price range, according to the document. Petropavlovsk decided not to sell any existing shares at the lower valuation of the revised price, according to the document sent by e-mail.

Stock-market swings have led to 98 IPOs being postponed or canceled globally this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, as concern that the economic recovery is slowing stalls investment. IRC’s loss for the six months through June was $51.7 million, narrowing from $125 million a year earlier.

Petropavlovsk said it will alter the terms of the offering after demand from investors failed to meet its “highest expectations.” IRC plans to publish an additional prospectus in Hong Kong which will result in a “short delay” in the timetable, London-based Petropavlovsk said in a statement today.

Petropavlovsk fell 51 pence, or 4.8 percent, to 1,020 pence at the 4:30 p.m. close of London trading, the lowest since Aug. 26. The stock posted today’s fourth-biggest drop in the FTSE 250 Index.

Greater Risk

“The company is still losing money, so the risk is higher than other new stocks,” Jaseper Tsang, an analyst at Capital Securities Corp., wrote in a research note. “We recommend investors to buy only a small amount for trading purposes.”

IRC, which has iron ore projects in Russia, previously offered 1.325 billion shares at HK$2.20 to HK$3 each to raise as much as HK$3.98 billion ($513 million), according to a Sept. 29 press release. About 80.8 percent of the shares previously offered were to be newly issued.

IRC’s reduction contrasts with Mongolian Mining Corp.’s IPO this month. Mongolia’s biggest closely held coking-coal producer increased its price range and sold shares at the mid-point of the revised range.

Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit, Bank of China International Holdings Ltd. and UBS AG are managing the IRC sale. IRC joins commodity producers including United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum maker, in raising funds in Hong Kong as Chinese raw-material demand jumps.

Project Development

Proceeds from the IPO will be used to develop mines, IRC has said. The company’s projects have resources of 1.1 billion metric tons of iron ore, according to its press release last month.

The Kuranakh development in the Amur region is its only producing facility. The company is developing the K&S venture, which may cost $400 million in its first phase, Petropavlovsk said in March. The mine would have capacity of 3.2 million tons of iron ore concentrate a year from 2013. IRC also plans to develop the Garinskoye deposit.

Petropavlovsk is Russia’s third-biggest gold producer.

（来源：Bloomberg）