RE: more on the new owner10 Mar 2022 10:25
part 2
The Region group of companies has not yet commented on the deal. Therefore, it is not clear whether the holding intends to remain a shareholder of Petropavlovsk for a long time.
In the past two years, the gold mining company has been in a state of corporate conflict: gold production has declined, shares have fallen sharply. It is possible that Region, after the deal, is counting on the end of the corporate conflict, which should have a positive impact on share prices. As a result: the new owner, having bought out the share of Yuzhuralzoloto and extinguished the corporate conflict, could profitably sell the assets of Petropavlovsk in the future. However, against the backdrop of a difficult geopolitical situation, gold prices are rising, so it cannot be ruled out that Region considers this deal as a long-term investment.
Petropavlovsk is one of the top five Russian companies in terms of gold mining. The main enterprises of the company - Pioneer, Malomyr, Albyn and Pokrovsky autoclave hydrometallurgical plant (PAGK) operate in the north of the Amur region.
In 2020, the gold mining holding plunged into a corporate conflict. At the annual meeting of shareholders, the founder of the company, Pavel Maslovsky, and several other directors did not get into the board of directors. An analysis of the voting results showed that Yuzhuralzoloto, Everest and Slevin, as well as Vladislav Sviblov voted against Maslovsky. Together they controlled 39.08 percent of Petropavlovsk at that time. In December 2020, a criminal case was initiated against Pavel Maslovsky on suspicion of embezzlement on an especially large scale. In November last year, the investigation reclassified the charge from embezzlement to fraud, excluding the sign “organized group” from it, RBC wrote. The founder of the company has been in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center in Moscow for the second year.
In an interview with business media, the president of Yuzhuralzoloto, Konstantin Strukov, spoke about the low efficiency of Petropavlovsk's management and reminded that the company had never paid dividends in ten years. At the same time, two years later, it was precisely inefficient corporate governance and a drop in production at the mines that he called the reason for the sale of shares.
According to Amurskaya Pravda, over the past year, the Moscow and Amur offices of the gold mining company underwent reorganizations, during which practical workers were According to Amurskaya Pravda, over the past year, the Moscow and Amur offices of the gold mining company underwent reorganizations, during which almost all heads of departments were fired, and there were serious layoffs of specialists. At the end of 2021, the volume of gold mining at the enterprises of Petropavlovsk fell by 18 percent to 14 tons compared to 2020. A decrease in production is planned for this year as well.
"Region" stakes on the Amur region
The Region Group of Companies, one of the larges