Severstal completes acquisition of 100% share capital of Celtic Resources Holdings PLC

Severstal announces that Centroferve Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Severstal, has completed the acquisition of gold miner Celtic Resources Holdings plc (“Celtic”). As at 30 January 2008, when its Offer for Celtic closed, and upon completion of the compulsory acquisition procedure Centroferve had acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Celtic.  Celtic’s shares were delisted from AIM on 22 January 2008.

The revised offer of Severstal of 290 pence per share valued Celtic at 173 mln pounds. As a result of earlier acquisitions of Celtic shares at lower price levels, the total acquisition price paid by Severstal was 162 mln pounds.

 

Severstal is an international steel producer and miner with a listing on the Russian Trading System and the London Stock Exchange. The company focuses on high value-added and unique niche products and has a successful track record of acquiring and integrating high-quality assets in North America and Europe. In 2007 Severstal produced 17.5 mln tn of steel.

 

Severstal owns mining assets in Russia, thus securing its supplies of raw materials. There are four high-quality mining complexes in northwest Russia and in Western Siberia producing iron ore and coking coal. Severstal Resurs (manages all Severstal’s mining assets) is the second largest producer of pellets and coking coal in Russia. The scrap business of Severstal Resurs consists of а number of scrap metal yards in the Northwestern, Central and Southern parts of Russia.

 

Severstal Resurs assets in the gold sector include two gold mining companies – Neryungiri Metallic, located in Sakha-Yakutia, and ZAO Rudnik Aprilkovo located in Chita region - and licenses for geological survey and gold mining at the following fields – Vitikamsky and Sagan Golsky located in Buryatia region and Uryakhsky ore field located in Irkutsk region. It also now includes two Celtic’s gold mines - Suzdal and Zherek – and controls Shorskoye molybdenum mine (eastern Kazakhstan).