As Donald Trump edges the U.S. closer to a thaw in relations with Vladimir Putin’s Russia, commodity investors are already jumping in. A plan by United Co. Rusal, the biggest Russian aluminum maker, for a London sale of shares valued at about $1.7 billion is the latest sign that Russia’s exile from world markets is over for the nation’s metal and mining giants.
It’s a turnaround from years in which slumping raw-materials prices, a weak economy and sanctions imposed by then-U.S. President Barack Obama over the annexation of Crimea punished valuations and drove away foreign investors.
Share sales by Russian mining companies have been rare since 2010. Until two months ago, PhosAgro PJSC’s offering in April 2013 was the last major sale by a non-state Russian mining company. The fertilizer miner and processor is among those that have returned since December.
Offerings from Novolipetsk Steel PJSC and TMK PJSC bring the total raised by mining and metals producers since then to about $575 million. Others weighing offers include En+ Group Ltd. and Polyus PJSC.
Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel OJSC, also known as MMK, is also considering selling a small stake to the market, people familiar said on Friday. Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Holdings Ltd. may offer up to 5 percent of Rusal to investors soon, people said late Thursday. En+, Polyus, MMK and Onexim declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.
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