Translated material
Shvidler got rich
Chairman of the Board of Directors of Millhouse became the owner of 8% of Highland Gold shares
Millhouse Capital, which represents the interests of Roman Abramovich and his partners, through its offshore structure Primerod, yesterday completed the sale of an 8% stake (26.02 million shares) in the British Highland Gold Mining (HGM), which produces gold in Russia. The owner of these securities was a company whose beneficiaries are the independent director of the gold miner and the chairman of the board of directors of Millhouse, Evgeniy Shvidler and his partners. This package, as stated in the gold miner's statement, was purchased at a price of $3.048 per share, the transaction amount was $79.3 million. Thus, the company officially disclosed one of its shareholders for the first time. As a result of the transaction, Primerod's share in Highland Gold was reduced from 40 to 32% of shares.Highland Gold Mining Ltd. Group , formed in May 2002 for the acquisition, consolidation and development of gold mining enterprises in Russia, owns the Mnogovershinnoye (Khabarovsk Territory), Novoshirokinskoye (Chita Region) and Mayskoye (Chukotka Autonomous Okrug) gold deposits. Until December 2007, when Millhouse became a shareholder of HGM, Canadian Barrick Gold Corp., the largest gold mining company in the world, owned 34% of Highland Gold shares, the company's management and board of directors owned 11%, and the Fleming Family owned 8%. The remaining shareholders owned smaller stakes.
Millhouse announced its intention to acquire a 40% stake in HGM in early December 2007 . The deal took place in two stages: at the end of last year a 25% stake was acquired (who acted as the seller and in what shares was not reported), and at the beginning of this year Millhouse bought an additional issue of shares of the company for $200 million (65.05 million shares HGM at £1.51 per share). The total cost of acquiring a 40% stake in HGM was $400 million.
Previously, according to some media reports, Severstal of Alexey Mordashov laid claim to a share in Highland Gold. In mid-November last year, Mr. Mordashov said that HGM might be of interest to his company, which was buying up gold mining assets. This statement provoked an increase in HGM quotes, but since there were no specific offers from Severstal, the market calmed down a little. And in the end, the deal took place with Millhouse structures.
Millhouse did not disclose the details of the deal that took place yesterday with Mr. Shvidler’s structures. The company representative did not say at the expense of whom in the group its chairman of the board of directors managed to consolidate 8% of Highland Gold shares.
Two members of the board of directors of HGM, as indicated in the company's statement, changed their shares in its capital. Chairman James Cross sold 330,000 ordinary shares at a price of £1.88 each, giving him a stake of 10,000 ordinary shares in the company. Board member and HGM Senior Independent Director Christopher Palmer-Tomkinson and his partners sold 5,646 thousand shares at a price of £1.82 each. After the sale, he controlled 655,316 thousand shares of HGM.