ALMATY/FEB. 4 2021 (The Bulletin) —  Nova Resources, a company linked to the Kazakh elite, increased its offer to buy miner KAZ Minerals off the London Stock Exchange by 22% because of rising copper prices.

In a takeover bid that has become increasingly acrimonious, Nova Resources, which is led by KAZ Minerals chairman Oleg Novachuk and former chairman Vladimir Kim, wrote to shareholders to promote what it said was a “compelling valuation”.

“The major reason we want to take this company off-market is because as a public company we do not have enough entrepreneurial flexibility to run this kind of risk,” the letter said.

Some analysts take a different view. They have said that both Mr Novachuk and Mr Kim are close to the top of the Kazakh elite and that these elite have now decided to pull in their assets. This includes, the analysts said, taking KAZ Minerals off the London Stock Exchange.

And there is precedence. In 2013, after a number of corruption allegations, the founders of ENRC took the company off the London Stock Exchange. ENRC was also a Kazakh mining company linked to the Kazakh elite.

Last year, KAZ Minerals bought the $8b copper mine Baimskaya in Chukotka, Far East Russia. The project, one of the biggest copper projects in the world, has been delayed because of a Russian government drive to upgrade infrastructure across the remote region that will slow the Baimskaya development.

Nova Resources wants to buy the 61% of KAZ Minerals that it doesn’t own but some shareholders have said that the new offer is still too low. 

“As we forecast that KEC Minerals will generate more than $5.5bn of ebitda over the next three years, it is our opinion that the £7.80 per share offer price still materially undervalues the company,” said London-based fund RWC Partners.

— ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 471 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

SEPT. 29 (The Conway Bulletin) – In an apparent PR attempt to remind the Kyrgyz government of its commitment to the Bozymchak gold mine in south Kyrgyzstan, which was raided by financial police in June, London-listed KAZ Minerals said that it had invested $350m into the site over the past 10 years, created jobs for 1,200 people and paid taxes of $41.2m. KAZ Minerals is worried that the Kyrgyz government is pressuring the mine for money or increased ownership.
ENDS
>>This story was published in issue 387 of The Conway Bulletin on Oct. 1 2018

SEPT. 7 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — KAZ Minerals, the Kazakhstan-focused copper producer, continues to be the stock of the year from the Central Asia region. It is now surfing at around 875p per share, smashing top end expectations only a couple of months ago of sub-800p.

The copper producer’s previous high had been 811p in 2013 and it started 2017 at 375p/share. The share price has been powered by a job in copper prices and also by better output at its mines. Analysts and traders have been falling over themselves to up their new target prices as KAZ Minerals shows no real sign of stopping its upward trend.

Canada-based gold miner Centerra Gold is another share that has looked good over the past few weeks. In mid-July, it was bumping along at around C$6.63/share. This has now climbed to C$7.49, still below its 2017 peak of C$8.24. Its current valuation has split analysts with most recommending a ‘hold’ but one or two advocate a ‘sell’.
Still, it jumped 8.3% in the period from Aug. 25, the region’s top riser.

On the downside, Georgia Healthcare slid 2.6% to 345.25p. It has dipped significantly since June when is shares were valued at over 400p.

Nostrum Oil & Gas also recorded a fall of 1.2%, to 380p, continuing its steady drop from over 530p in June.

ENDS

Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 342, published on Sept. 7 2017)