PJSC Uralkali and JSC Uralchem have no plans for an initial public offering (IPO) as a way to cut debt, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 7, citing Uralchem CFO and Deputy CEO Igor Bulantsev, who was speaking with reporters in Moscow.
Industry multiples would not make an IPO an attractive move, the CFO said.
According to the report, Bulantsev stressed the group’s (Uralchem and Uralkali combined) debt is not an issue, although there is still a target to reduce it. Favorable fertilizer market conditions should help the group’s 2021 EBITDA exceed $3 billion, while net debt should decline to below $10 billion, he said.
According to the CFO, the group’s consolidated first-half 2021 EBITDA was $1.16 billion, and net debt as of end-June was $10.7 billion.
Uralkali separately reported a first-half IFRS EBITDA of $748 million, while its net debt as of June 30, 2021, stood at $4.488 billion (June 30, 2020: $4.634 billion), according to its financial statements published in late August (GM Sept. 3, p. 25).
Uralchem, via its majority owner Dmitry Mazepin, has owned 81.47 percent of Uralkali since the end of November 2020 (GM Dec. 4, 2020). The balance shareholding in Uralkali is a quasi-treasury stake, so the potash company is effectively fully controlled by Uralchem and is fully consolidated by Uralchem. Mazepin is also Uralkali’s Co-Deputy Chairman.