OREANDA-NEWS. On August 11, 2008 CJSC Polyus, a wholly owned subsidiary of OJSC Polyus Gold (RTS, MICEX and LSE - PLZL), Russia's leading gold producer, announced a squeeze out offer made to the shareholders of OJSC Matrosov Mine, a license holder of Natalka deposit in Magadan region, reported the press-centre of CJSC Polyus.

The offer is aimed at buying out all of the ordinary and preferred shares of OJSC Matrosov Mine.

On May 14th, 2008, CJSC Polyus has completed the shares buyout within a voluntary offer. As a result of buyout CJSC Polyus' stake in OJSC Matrosov Mine increased by 2.7% to 97.5%. In total, 9,107 ordinary shares were purchased at 56,396.83 rubles  per share and 6,922 type A preferred shares at 4.08 rubles  per share. Therefore, CJSC Polyus' stake in OJSC Matrosov Mine was raised to over 95%, which entitled the company to make a squeeze out offer. 

According to the squeeze out offer, CJSC Polyus is to buy out all OJSC Matrosov Mine ordinary and preference nominal uncertificated stocks from its shareholders at following prices:

RUR56,396. 83  per each ordinary share;

RUR4.19  per each type A preferred share.

The buy out price was determined basing on the valuation of an independent appraiser LLC "Rosexpertiza" and was confirmed by the opinion of the self-regulatory assessment organization non-commercial partnership "Self-regulatory organization of the Russian assessment masters association". The record date for the squeeze out offer is September 22, 2008.

Polyus Gold is the largest gold producer in Russia. Headquartered in Moscow, Polyus Gold's operating mines and development/exploration projects are located in five major gold mining regions of Russia - Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Magadan, Amur regions and the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The company produced 1.2 m oz of gold in 2007.

CJSC Polyus, a wholly owned subsidiary of OJSC Polyus Gold is operating at Olimpiada Mine in Krasnoyarsk region, the key production unit of Polyus Gold and the largest stand alone gold producer in Russia.