Mitsui may acquire a minority stake in Alisher Usmanov’s Metalloinvest holding ahead of a listing in London next year, The Independent reported on Sunday, citing informed sources.
Metalloinvest “wants to secure Mitsui as a cornerstone investor so as to provide ‘a benchmark’ for the value of the flotation,” The Independent said, citing a source close to Metalloinvest. “For example, selling a 10 percent stake at $1.5 billion to $2 billion would value the group at $15 billion to $20 billion — though some experts believe that Metalloinvest could be valued as high as $30 billion when it joins the London Stock Exchange in 2011,” it said.
Sale of a minority stake would give investors confidence that Metalloinvest deserves a high valuation, The Independent said. “The deal is expected to give Mitsui rights to be the agent to sell Metalloinvest’s products … into Asia,” it said. Metalloinvest has not commented on the report.
(Interfax)
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