Polyus closes books on $6.4bn share buyback early

Reuters | July 26, 2023 | 9:27 am
Top Companies • Europe • Russia and Central Asia • Gold

Natalka mine. (Image: Polyus)

Russian gold producer Polyus said on Wednesday that it had closed the books for its more than $6 billion share buyback early, and that the entire buyback package would be redeemed.

Earlier this month, Polyus said its board had approved a share buyback worth up to 579.4 billion roubles ($6.44 billion) that could boost its financial flexibility for future M&A deals.

It said that it would buy back 40,802,741 shares, representing 100% of the maximum number of shares set out in its tender offer, or 29.99% of outstanding shares.

A Polyus representative said a large shareholder had submitted a bid to sell part of its stake and that a large number of retail investors had participated.

The subsequent free-float value will be determined once calculations have been finalised.

On Tuesday, a delisting of Polyus’ depositary receipts from the London Stock Exchange, in part due to US and UK sanctions against the company over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, came into effect.

($1 = 89.9000 roubles)

(By Alexander Marrow, Anastasia Lyrchikova and Caleb Davis; Editing by Louise Heavens and Bernadette Baum)