The on-and-off listing plan of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's energy resources conglomerate, EN+ group and its units in Hong Kong, has been pushed back, according to its chief executive.
Speaking with the South China Morning Post yesterday, EN+ chief executive Artem Volynets blamed the European sovereign debt crisis on souring the world's capital markets at a time when the group was pursuing the planned listing of the group as a whole or its power generation subsidiary, EuroSibEnergo, or possibly both.
The delay pours cold water on Deripaska's ambition to open up more funding channels for his group companies after EN+ spun off the aluminium-making flagship, Rusal, on Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing in 2010.
'The plans for the listing of EN+ group and/ or companies are still very much in place, but the time is not near yet, not next two to three years,' Volynets said.
EuroSibEnergo, Russia's largest privately-owned power producer, originally pursued the reinstatement of its US$1.5 billion listing plan this year after it was forced to postpone twice last year due to a lack of interest in the firm's shares at its offer price and unfavourable regulatory changes in Russia's power market.
Volynets said that EN+ including Rusal earmarked US$25 billion for investments over the next 15 to 20 years, and the listing delay meant it would turn to other financing options such as bank borrowings, project financing and funding from potential partners in mainland China, South Korea and Japan.
He said the group's financial health remained in 'good' shape, pointing out that Rusal had refinanced its debts in September last year. However, some analysts said that even after the restructuring, Rusal's debts stood at US$11 billion. This is despite the fact that significant principal repayments are not due until 2016.
