what's going on9 Mar 2022 09:20
"Region" came to Petropavlovsk
The company became the owner of 29.18% of the shares
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2 minutes.
The owner of 29.18% of the shares of the gold mining company Petropavlovsk became the Region Group of Companies Sergey Sudarikov. Konstantin Strukov owned just such a stake, but he himself does not comment on this deal. In the past two years, Petropavlovsk has been in a state of corporate conflict, reducing gold production, and the company's shares have fallen sharply in price. Perhaps Region is counting on the end of the corporate conflict, which should have a positive impact on the quotes.
GC "Region" Sergey Sudarikov became the owner of 29.18% of the shares of the gold mining company Petropavlovsk, according to a message on the LSE. Konstantin Strukov had a package of this size. The cost of the stake on the LSE is estimated at $28 million. Mr. Strukov declined to comment.
Kommersant's sources spoke about the desire of Konstantin Strukov to sell a stake in Petropavlovsk last year. Yuzhuralzoloto, which is controlled by the family of Mr. Strukov, entered the capital of Petropavlovsk in February 2020, having bought 22.37% of the shares of the gold mining company from Roman Trotsenko's structures, as well as bonds that could be converted into another 5.97% of the shares. The market value of the stake in the amount of 22.37% was estimated at $170 million. Then the press service of Mr. Strukov announced the great potential of Petropavlovsk, including mentioning the company's "unique for Russia technology for autoclave leaching of refractory gold ores."
In 2020, Petropavlovsk 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. An analysis of the voting results showed that Yuzhuralzoloto, Everest and Slevin, as well as Vladislav Sviblov voted against Mr. Maslovsky. Together they controlled 39.08% of Petropavlovsk at that time. In an interview with Kommersant shortly after those events, Mr. Strukov spoke about the low efficiency of Petropavlovsk's management and recalled that the company had never paid dividends in ten years.
At the end of 2021, Petropavlovsk, operating in the Amur Region and one of the five largest gold mining companies in the country, reduced gold production by 18%, to 449.8 thousand ounces.
In 2022, Petropavlovsk allows for a further decline in production to 380-420 koz.
At the moment, it is not clear whether Region intends to remain a shareholder of Petropavlovsk for a long time. Sources of "Kommersant" in the industry allowed the scenario of resolving a corporate conflict through the buyout of Mr. Strukov's share by a third party, followed by the sale of Petropavlovsk's assets. However, against the backdrop of a difficult geopolitical situation, gold prices are now rising, while Petropavlovsk shares have fallen sharply in price over the past two years, so it cannot be ruled out that Region sees this dea