Shareholders vote for gold miner Lenzoloto's liquidation
MOSCOW. Aug 15 (Interfax) - Shareholders in PJSC Lenzoloto vote in favor of liquidation at an extraordinary meeting, the gold miner said.
Ordinary and preferred shares in Lenzoloto trade on the Moscow Exchange . According to the most recent data, Polyus owned 94.79% voting shares and 4.46% preferred shares in Lenzoloto at the end of 2022.
PJSC Lenzoloto is essentially a holding company. Polyus bought ZDK Lenzoloto, which owns its alluvial mining assets, from PJSC Lenzoloto in 2020 but sold it to a third party in 2024.
PJSC Lenzoloto is merely a legal shell with residual cash balances on its books, analyst at Alfa-Investments Igor Galaktionov said. The financial statements show that the company's revenues in recent years have consisted solely of deposit interest. On one occasion in 2022, the company also recorded substantial income from foreign exchange revaluation, but these were all one-off factors, he said.
"The remaining cash and accrued interest were gradually withdrawn from the company as dividends, which may have misled some investors. To someone unfamiliar with Lenzoloto's situation, it might have appeared that the company was actually operational. At times, Lenzoloto's shares rose following gold price movements. But these were just misconceptions and speculative trading," Galaktionov said.
A company without active business can be valued based on its net asset value. As of late March, to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS), this amounted to 333.2 million rubles, Galaktionov said. After deducting preferred stock dividends paid in Q2, 329.9 million rubles remain. These funds should be distributed among shareholders. The liquidation value comes to approximately 222 rubles per share, he said. "The final amount will differ, as minor interest income may still accrue before distribution, and there will be liquidation procedure expenses. But the approximate magnitude remains in this range," he said.
For comparison, Thursday's closing prices for PJSC Lenzoloto shares on the Moscow Exchange were 7,740 rubles per ordinary share and 995 rubles per preferred share, with both actively rising further during Friday's trading.
