(Adds quote, analyst, background)
By Martin Dokoupil
PRAGUE, April 23 (Reuters) - Czech coal miner New World
Resources (NWR) plans to raise 892 million to 1.1 billion pounds
($876 billion to $219 billion) through an initial public
offering in London, the company said on Wednesday.
It said it had set the price range at 10.75 to 13.25 pounds
per share and the offering would value the entire company at 2.8
to 3.5 billion pounds, at the higher end of analysts' estimates.
Trading should start on the London Stock Exchange on May 8.
The Dutch-registered group will also be listed in Prague and
Warsaw in an offering which has been put off from late last
year.
"Markets are slowly returning to equilibrium now after the
U.S. mortgage crisis," said Zdenek Bakala, NWR vice-chairman and
indirect co-owner.
"We think the mining and coal sector is doing well so we
believe this is an appropriate time to go to the market."
The company said its IPO would be the largest in London so
far this year and the largest ever in Prague.
It said it would offer up to 83.01 million shares, including
up to 69.51 million sold by main owner RPG Industries, and up to
13.5 million new shares.
It said the offering would represent up to 31.5 percent of
the company and up to 36.2 percent including an overallotment
option of up to 15 percent of the base offering.
Institutional bookbuilding was due to start on Wednesday and
close on May 7.
EXPANSION PLANS
NWR is the full owner of Czech group OKD, which mines coking
and steam coal in the east of the Czech Republic. It plans to
develop two mines in Poland, across the border from its Czech
operations.
The company has said it would use the IPO proceeds to fund
the expansion and modernisation of its mines.
"Our valuation is roughly somewhere in the middle in the
range set when using a relative comparison. We think it is on a
level where the company value should be," said Milan Vanicek,
head of research at Atlantik FT brokerage.
"I would expect high interest," he said.
NWR said contracted coking coal prices jumped 61 percent
this year from 2007, while steam coal prices rose 44 percent.
NWR picked Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan
Cazenove as joint global co-ordinators and bookrunners for the
IPO. Citigroup is a joint lead manager.
NWR's revenue rose 10.7 percent last year to 1.37 billion
euros ($2.2 billion) and net profit jumped 94 percent to 196
million euros.
The company said it would keep the dividend payout ratio in
coming years at 50 percent of the net profit in its mining
division, which accounts for the bulk of operations. It paid 2.2
billion crowns from last year's income.
NWR's biggest customers include steel makers such as Arcelor
Mittal Steel <MTP.PA> <ISPA.AS> and U.S. Steel <X.N>, energy
utilities such as CEZ <> and large industrial companies
in central Europe.
The company has said it had 419 million tonnes of proven and
probable saleable reserves.
(Writing by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Louise Ireland and David
Holmes)
