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Polyus Gold hires top banks for LSE listing

A source familiar with the matter said Tuesday the miner has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, VTB Capital and Renaissance Capital for its planned listing and stock sale in London.

MOSCOW (Reuters)  - 

Russian gold miner Polyus Gold, co-owned by Russian presidential hopeful Mikhail Prokhorov, has selected banks for its planned listing and stock sale in London, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Polyus has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan, VTB Capital and Renaissance Capital, the source said.

Polyus is seeking to follow in the footsteps of Russian miners Polymetal, which raised nearly $800 million, and Evraz, in seeking the greater liquidity and investor exposure that comes with a full London listing.

"In this difficult market, it is hard to say the timeframe, but it will probably be in the first six months (of 2012), closer to the summer," the source told Reuters.

Polyus said in October its free float was around 13-14 percent of outstanding shares, but that needed to be raised to 25 percent for the London Stock Exchange listing. Polyus' market value is currently around $9.5 billion, meaning it may have to sell 11-12 percent, or about $1 billion.

Polyus is still waiting for approval from the Russian government to go ahead with the float, and Prokhorov told Reuters earlier this month he expected the green light in "the nearest future".

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