Russian Gold Giant On Free Float

Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel's gold arm Polyus Zoloto was valued by the investment company Finam at $4.4 billion ($20.4 per share).

Polyus Zoloto intends to float on the Russian Trading System stock exchange and the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange in March-April, and on western trading floors in May 2006.

According to analysts' estimates, the free float should amount to 40% of the company's stock.

Polyus Zoloto is the largest gold mining company in Russia, accounting for around 20% of the country's gold output. The firm's gold output in 2004 was around 33.75 metric tons, but that figure is expected to rise to about 100 mt/yr by 2010, making the company one of the world's top five producers of the metal.