Polymetal plans full LSE listing

The Russian precious metals miner Polymetal plans a premium listing on the London Stock Exchange, raising about $500m (£321m) in a move it hopes will catapult it into the FTSE 100 blue-chip index and hand it currency for acquisitions.

Polymetal, which currently has a market capitalisation of about $7bn based on its Moscow-listed shares, announced it would shake up its structure and transfer its Russian shares and existing UK GDR securities to London.

The move, which opens the miner further to foreign investors, will help it to take advantage of acquisition opportunities in conditions that have squeezed smaller producers.

Analysts said the move would also facilitate an exit for the main shareholders somewhere down the line. Its main shareholders are Czech billionaire Petr Kellner's investment group PPF, Nesis family investment group IST and billionaire Alexander Mamut.

Bobby Godsell, who was previously the chief executive of AngloGold Ashanti and is a veteran of the mining industry, will be Polymetal's independent non-executive chairman.