Russia’s largest gold producer Polyus said on Tuesday its board had recommended shareholders approve a stock split to increase the liquidity and availability of the company’s shares.
Since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russian stock markets have changed drastically, with retail investors now dominating trading and very few foreign investors able or willing to participate. Oil pipeline monopoly Transneft and mining giant Nornickel have also carried out share splits.
At Monday’s close, Polyus was the most expensive of all blue-chip stocks on the Moscow Exchange, with one share worth 13,929.5 roubles ($139.30).
Shareholders are being asked to approve the split at a ratio of one to 10, Polyus said. The meeting will be held on Feb. 3, 2025.
A share split increases the number of shares held by shareholders by dividing existing shares.
Splitting the shares would make them “more accessible to retail investors and may help increase their liquidity”, Polyus CEO Alexei Vostokov said earlier this month.
In November, retail investors accounted for 75.8% of all trading on the Moscow Exchange.
Last year, Polyus completed a 579.4 billion rouble ($5.8 billion) share buyback that it said could boost its financial flexibility for future M&A deals.
($1 = 99.9000 roubles)
(Reporting by Anastasia Lyrchikova; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Jan Harvey)
