OPK Mining, a Russian coking coal producer, plans to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering next year to develop its mines in Siberia. A stake of at least 25 percent may be sold in Hong Kong or London, Dmitry Sakhno, chief executive officer of OPK's Eniseiskaya Industrial Co. unit, said today in an interview at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia. OPK is also considering selling the stake to a single investor, he said.
Coal producers are attracting investors amid record prices. The Czech Republic's New World Resources BV, which supplies coking coal to steelmakers, raised $2.2 billion in an initial public offering in May. Poland's Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka SA will hold an IPO this year, the government said in April.
Prices for coking coal sold under annual contracts increased to $300 a metric ton this year on growing steel production and delays to ships from Australia and Indonesia.
Eniseiskaya Industrial Co., a unit of Cyprus-registered OPK, is developing the Elegest deposit in Siberia's Tuva republic, which has proven reserves of 894.8 million tons of coking coal.
OPK is worth as much as $4 billion, Sakhno said, citing an appraisal by three banks he didn't identify. The company began mining at Elegest this month and plans to produce 800,000 tons a year from 2009. Output will climb to 13.5 million tons in 2013, Sakhno said. OPK plans to export half of its production.
