Polyus Gold, near the end of a reverse takeover that will make it a British company, expects to obtain a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange by autumn, making it the biggest pure-play gold miner to do so, its chief executive said. "That will be a massive driver for liquidity," newly appointed Chief Executive German Pikhoya told Reuters in an interview.
"We might expect some re-rating." Eligibility for a premium listing is a precursor to admission to the FTSE-100 index. The Russian company needs to boost its free float to meet the requirements, but it has treasury shares to achieve that aim, he said. The company may also need to raise cash for a mandatory buy-out offer of remaining shareholders in the current Russian entity. "The state of the market is obvious," he said. "It's difficult to say what will happen next week. It's (treasury shares) a cash equivalent. We will try to find the most value accretive way of finding money."