Alrosa Wants Polyus Gold at ~$45 a Share (Updated)

Alrosa is interested in buying a 6.54 percent stake in Russia's leading gold miner Polyus Gold, for $40 - $50 per share, or about $562 million, according to reports. However, it may take time before a bid is placed on the table.

Alrosa President Sergey Vybornov told Reuters he would only consider such a bid after the resolution of an ownership tussle between Polyus co-owners Vladimir Potanin and Mikhail Prokhorov.

"We want to wait for the end of the conflict between the shareholders and then look again. It is an interesting asset," Vybornov said. Potanin and Prokhorov are seeking to split their joint holdings in a number of companies, and a sale of certain holdings is one of the options.

Polyus said that Alrosa made an offer for 12.48 million shares, an approximately 6.54 percent stake in the company. While denying that an offer was made, Vybornov said that a reasonable price would be $40 - $50 per share. Trade in the share closed at $63.60 on Friday on the London Exchange. "I think the asset is very highly overpriced at the moment," Vybornov said.

Polyus is the world's fourth largest gold company by reserves.