Polyus Gold to merge with international gold miner by 2012

Russia’s largest gold miner Polyus Gold plans to merge with an international gold mining company this year, its core owner and general director Mikhail Prokhorov said on Friday.

“We have already drawn up a shortlist (of possible partners),” Prokhorov said, adding that at the annual shareholders’ meeting last week he recommended buying Polyus Gold shares as they would get more expensive due to the future merger.

Polyus Gold expects to complete the merger after closing a long delayed reverse takeover with Kazakhstan’s KazakhGold this July. KazakhGold has become the parent company of Polyus Gold group and will soon be renamed Polyus International.

The value of Polyus International may grow 20 percent after the takeover, while after the merger with a large international player the new company will become one of top three world gold producers. Prokhorov and Polyus Gold’s co-owner Suleiman Kerimov will be minority shareholders in the new company.

MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti)

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