Czech coal firm to defy the market with its float
Silesian coalminer New World Resources is destined to muscle its way into the FTSE 100 by the end of the year after the company said it will ignore choppy financial markets and go ahead with a float in London next month.
The Czech company will be valued at up to £3.5 billion as it aims to sell 31.5% of its shares to London investors to raise up to £1.1 billion.
The share offer, London's biggest float this year, will turn a fortune for its sellers, Czech financier Zdenek Bakala and a group of Hungarian private investors in Crossroads Capital, who bought the business four years ago before the recent coal boom for less than £300 million.
The float of New World Resources, which produces the coal for the giant steelmakers and motor manufacturers of central and eastern Europe, follows the recent debut in London and subsequent promotion to the FTSE 100 of the Kazahkstan miner ERNC. It is set to be followed by another overseas miner, Fresnillo from Mexico which will also be large enough to make it into the London blue chips.
"London is the capital for global mining finance, it is where all the world's leading mining companies are listed, and where there is great depth of knowledge amongst the analyst and banking community," said executive chairman Mike Salamon, a former senior director of Australian giant BHP Billiton.
