The Uzbek state-backed company is seeking a valuation of about $20 billion, including debt, two sources said, citing a nearly 30% rise in the price of gold this year and the market multiples of other gold miners. Shares of companies such as Newmont Corp. and Barrick Mining Corp. have risen sharply this year on the back of rising gold prices.
NMMC is working with Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to arrange a possible offering, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Citi and JPMorgan have previously helped the company with a bond offering on the London Stock Exchange. NMMC is also working with Rothschild & Co. as an IPO advisor, Bloomberg reported in March.
The company is considering issuing global depositary receipts listed in London as part of a dual listing in the UK and Uzbekistan, the sources said. A presidential decree issued in April that mandated public offerings for 12 state-owned companies requires shares to be listed on the domestic market alongside any international offering.
No final decisions have been made and plans could change, the sources added. Representatives for NMMC, Citi, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Representatives for Rothschild and the Uzbek government did not respond to requests for comment.
The price of gold has roughly doubled in the past three years as central banks, asset managers and private investors buy the metal amid rising geopolitical risks. In April, prices hit a record high of more than $3,500 an ounce, and many analysts predict that gold will remain in value as the fallout from President Donald Trump’s trade war weighs on global markets.
The planned IPO of NMMC is part of the country’s privatization program, launched by an April decree. According to it, the company is to announce the terms of a tender in the second half of the year for the sale of a 10-15% state stake. The document also provides for an IPO of 25% of the shares of the national investment fund UzNIF worth $1.7 billion. The Uzbek authorities are still deciding which of the two placements to hold first, Bloomberg reported.
The deal could be a boost for London, which has suffered its worst first half of the year for IPOs in nearly 30 years. The city is traditionally a popular venue for listings of mining and emerging market companies.
According to its annual report, NMMC calls itself the fourth-largest gold miner in the world, having generated about $4 billion in operating profit last year on 3.1 million ounces of gold production and $7.4 billion in revenue.
Source: Bloomberg