Arkley Capital has completed transaction for selling its zinc assets

Arkley Capital S.à r.l., Luxembourg, has completed a transaction through which 100% of the shares in NF Holdings B. V., which controls 58% of the shares of Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant (RTS, MICEX, LSE: CHZN) – a leading Russian zinc producer – has been sold. The purchaser was a consortium of independent investors, including companies which are among the largest non-ferrous metal industry groups of companies – Ural Mining and Metallurgy Company and Russian Copper Company. The price of the transaction was not disclosed.
The funds from the transaction will be used for the strategic investment projects of the pipe division of the ChTPZ Group.
Sergei Moiseyev, the managing director of Arkley Capital’s Moscow branch, noted the following on the closing of the transaction: “Since 2003 the shareholders of CZP have successfully conducted a policy directed at the development of the company and increasing its efficiency in accordance with a strategy implemented by the Board of Directors of the company which I led until July of this year and directed for building up production volumes and the company's complete independence in raw material supply. In the past six years we have implemented a large-scale investment program at the enterprise, investing 2.38 billion rubles in re-equipping the plant. Through acquiring new assets in Kazakhstan and Great Britain, we have formed a vertically integrated company on the basis of CZP, establishing a stable supply of raw materials for the enterprise. Significant efforts were made to raise the level of corporate governance at the company: in 2006 we conducted a successful placement of the company's GDRs and shares on the LSE and RTS, respective, we engaged independent directors to work in the Board of Directors and we applied global best practices in our interactions with investors. The realization of socially responsible policies in regard to the companies under our control was always an important component of our strategy. I would like to underline that the structure of the transaction which has been completed is the most favorable one for the Chelyabinsk Zinc Plant, since it ensures a stable supply of the required volumes of raw materials for the plant.”