MOSCOW, April 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russian fertilizer holding company PhosAgro has raised $470 million in a secondary public offering (SPO) of its shares and Global Depositary Receipts (GDR) on the open market, the company said on Wednesday.
PhosAgro, a leading global phosphate-based fertilizer producer, floated a total of 11.111 million existing shares in the form of shares and GDRs representing 9 percent of the company’s equity. The offer price was $42 per share and $14 per GDR (with one share represented by three GDRs).
The stock was offered at a price slightly below the market value. PhosAgro’s GDRs closed at $14.15 per GDR on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday compared with $14.77 per GDR at the close of LSE trading on Monday when the company announced its SPO.
“We are pleased that we were able to attract solid demand from high quality institutional investors. We expect that it will assist the company in helping to create value in both the short and long term for all shareholders,” PhosAgro Management Board Chairman Maxim Volkov said.
PhosAgro’s SPO was held to address share liquidity concerns and significantly increase the number of publicly traded PhosAgro shares and GDRs, he said.
“Second, the proceeds from the additional share issuance that will follow this offering will be used by PhosAgro for financing the consolidation of minority stakes in our production facilities, as well as for ongoing modernization and expansion projects."
The SPO selling shareholders were Cyprus-based Adorabella Limited, Chlodwig Enterprises Ltd and Miles Ahead Management Ltd. The shares of these companies are managed by trusts whose beneficiary is the family of Russian Murmansk Region senator Andrei Guryev.
The selling shareholders intend to use around 45 percent of the proceeds from the offering to subscribe to the company’s 5,022,920 newly issued ordinary shares, according to a statement posted on the LSE.
