LSR Group might get less through SPO

OAO LSR Group, whose business activity involves a number of projects in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Region, might end up attracting some $100m less than expected in the course of its SPO. In fact, at the close of the sign-up session, the Group had to reduce the stock price by over 12%, that is, down to $8.5 to $9.5 per GDR, Vedomosti reports.

So OAO LSR, Saint Petersburg’s major builder, declared that GDRs would be offered to the investors at $8.5 to $9.5 per receipt or at $42.5 to $47.5 per share (one share being equal to five GDRs). The total amount of investment should thus reach $667m, with the company selling about 14 million shares. The stock is to be sold through Cyprus-based Streetlink Ltd and LSR Group’s founder Andrei Molchanov. Incidentally, Molchanov is also the beneficiary of Streetlink Ltd.

Upon the completion of the SPO, Streetlink Ltd is to buy out the Group’s additional $445m share issue, says Vedomosti.

The newspaper claims LSR Group had hoped to obtain much more money through the public offer. For one, the investor presentation the company released in mid-April stated that LSR intended to sell its global depositary receipts at $10 to $11 ($50 to $55 per share) and thus attract up to $773m worth of investments.

The company expected to use this money to pay off its current debts that now run to about $300m and to spend the remainder of the sum on buying new land allotments, financing ongoing construction projects, and acquiring new building materials manufacturing facilities.

According to LSR Group’s investor presentation, the company has 8.3 million sq m worth of real estate in its portfolio, of which 7.3 m sq m is located in Saint Petersburg and the rest is based in Yekaterinburg, Moscow, and Leningrad Region, Vedomosti reports.