OAO Gazprom, Russia's natural-gas exporter, plans to hold an initial public offering of its new coal and power unit after acquiring Siberian Coal Energy Co.Gazprom will acquire 50 percent plus one share in the country's biggest coal producer by September, the Moscow-based companies said in a joint e-mailed statement today. State-run Gazprom will pay for the shares with its electricity assets.
The transaction will create the country's largest electricity producer, after the breakup of OAO Unified Energy System in June, and the biggest coal supplier to power stations. The Gazprom unit will have 30,500 megawatts of capacity in the 10 time zones between Finland and Russia's easternmost border with China. Deloitte & Touche LLP valued the new company at about $16 billion, Kommersant newspaper reported Nov. 28.
Gazprom, supplier of a quarter of Europe's gas, is moving into coal as the government seeks to reduce the country's reliance on gas for power generation. The government wants coal to account for 37 percent of power production by 2015, up from 27 percent last year, freeing up more gas for export.
``The IPO will happen in the near term,'' Siberian Coal spokesman Alexei Naumenko said by phone today, declining to elaborate.
Vladimir Rashevsky, chief executive officer of Siberian Coal, also known as SUEK, will manage the new company, according to today's statement. Gazprom will hold 5 of 11 board seats, SUEK will have four and two directors will be independent.
Source: Bloomberg|by Greg Walters and Yuriy Humber
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