This was pulled from a website yesterday and posted on both other blogs.

Russian copper and nickel miner Intergeo is planning an initial public offering (IPO) on the Toronto Stock Exchange later this year, according to press speculation. Business daily Vedomosti said the business would divest 10.0 per cent of its equity in a private placement as part of the flotation. The paper cited Intergeo’s president Maxim Finskiy, who said a reverse takeover is also an option under consideration.

The group is owned by precious metals tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, estimated by Forbes this year to be the world’s 32nd richest man with a net worth of USD 18.00 billion.

Reuters cited Prokhorov as saying Intergeo is worth at least USD 3.00 billion – which implies a valuation of upwards of USD 300.00 million for the private placement.

Finskiy, who is on the board of gold miner Polyus Gold, said the IPO would take place later this year. Before he became president of Intergeo, Finskiy also served at Norilsk Nickel as deputy director general. Both these mining firms went public while he was working for them.

Established in 2008, secretive Intergeo counts metals, mining and energy investor Onexim among its major shareholders. Other Onexim portfolio companies include Polyus Gold and the aluminium giant Rusal.

Little is known about Intergeo; the press and its major shareholder say it is a mining concern, though the most recent available Federal Anti-Monopoly Service statement lists it as a geological surveyor. The website is not currently accessible.

Prokhorov is Russia’s third richest person, according to Forbes. He has moved his efforts from Russian mining and banking to US basketball team the New Jersey Nets.

Onexim, which was founded by Prokhorov in 2007, bought an 80.0 per cent stake in the Nets for USD 200.00 million in May 2010 from American property developer Bruce Ratner".

If these jokers say that Intergeo is worth $3 billion, then it's probably only worth about $300 million. JMHO

This is getting really interesting.

P.S.
For those who do not know what Mr.s Finskiy & Prokhorov look like, feast your eyes on the following two
web pages.

http://www.123people.com/ext/frm?ti=person%20finder&search_term=maxim%20finskiy&search_
country=US&st=person%20finder&target_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.polyusgold.com%2Feng%2
Fabout%2Fcompany%2Fboardofdirectors%2Ffinsky%2F&section=weblink&wrt_id=217

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics