Reuters 14 September 2012
Russia’s New-York-listed steel and coal miner Mechel is looking to sell a 25 percent stake in its East Siberian Elga coal deposit to South-East Asian investors, two sources familiar with the discussions said on Friday.
Mechel bought Elga coal deposit with proven reserves of 2.2 billion tonnes in 2008. Yakutugol, a subsidiary of Mechel-Mining, holds a licence to develop Elga. Mechel planned to invest a total of $2.87 billion in Elga until 2014.
Mechel-Mining has been planning an IPO since 2008, but it has been postponed due to sluggish market conditions.
“They are in active talks with companies from South-East Asia (including) Japan, China and South Korea,” one of the sources told Reuters.
“They could either sell a stake (in it) or (sign) a stake agreement, (which will bind) the company to sell its products at a fixed price in exchange for receiving a credit line.”
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