01 July 2016, 15:47 / Business

Alrosa has already been sold

Long-term investors can quickly buy from 70 to 100% of the company's SPO on the Moscow Exchange Vitaly Petlevoy Alrosa has already been sold / Yuri Smityuk / TASS

Long-term investors can buy from 70 to 100% of Alrosa during a secondary placement of shares on the stock exchange, Interfax writes, citing two sources close to the preparation of the deal. The SPO could take place in the next two weeks, Vedomosti sources said. Interfax sources claim that the deal will take place in the form of an accelerated collection of applications.

Alrosa's portfolio investors - funds (such as Oppenheimer and Lazard) that took part in the IPO in October 2013 - have confirmed their desire to participate, "although, of course, there is a difference between preliminary applications and final offers," one of the interlocutors said Interfax.

Alrosa holds meetings with investors on the eve of privatization

The placement of 10.9% of shares on the Moscow Exchange is possible in the summer, according to the Ministry of Economic Development

“There is a lot of real interest in Alrosa’s securities,” said a Vedomosti source close to the company.

RDIF will also take part in the placement, says Interfax’s interlocutor. He will participate in the deal in the proportion of one-third of his funds - two-thirds of investors' funds (Arab and Asian), one of the sources said. The placement itself will take place in the format of an accelerated privatization transaction, one of Interfax’s interlocutors said. “This is not even an SPO - this is an accelerated privatization deal, without a prospectus or memorandum. Usually, in a good market, banks conclude such transactions in a couple of days,” he explained.

A Lazard representative refused to comment on whether the fund would buy a stake during privatization; representatives of Sberbank, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Finance, and the Oppenheimer Fund have not yet responded to questions from Vedomosti.

Previously on the topic: The organizers of the privatization of Bashneft and Alrosa have approved the size of the commission

Meetings with potential investors regarding participation in the privatization of 10.9% of Alrosa shares were held until the end of June; the decision on the timing of opening the application book will be made based on the results of the roadshow. It is planned to place the state share on the Moscow Exchange, and it will be possible to raise at least 60 billion rubles from its sale, Minister of Economic Development Alexey Ulyukaev said in an interview with Russia 24 in May. Now the company’s capitalization is 508 billion rubles, the share of 10.9% is valued on the stock exchange at 55.3 billion rubles.

Communication with investors has been going on since the end of May, Vedomosti’s source in one of the investment banks, which was offered to buy a stake in a diamond mining company, knows. With a presentation for investors (Vedomosti has the document), Alrosa has already been to Southeast Asia and North America, where an unofficial road show took place, notes another investment banker.

The Alrosa representative adds that there was no classic roadshow involving underwriters, but he confirms that a series of meetings with investors were held in the USA, Great Britain, and also Singapore. Prospective buyers have an interest in the company, he believes.