The auction for the sale of the assets of the Southern Gas Company (Yuzhuralzoloto) will be announced on May 8 and the results will be summed up ten days later. The starting assessment of SGC assets by the Federal Property Management Agency, where 140.4 billion out of 162 billion rubles. account for 67.2% in the parent gold mining company, and the rest – in non-core assets, analysts consider fair and not undervalued and believe that the asset will be purchased at almost this price. Experts call the main contenders UMMC, some large gold mining holdings and, with a lesser degree of probability, VEB.
The Federal Property Management Agency has announced the parameters of the auction for the sale of assets of the gold mining company YuGK (Yuzhuralzoloto): the auction will be announced on May 8, applications will be accepted within five working days, that is, until May 15, and the final results will be announced on May 18.
The prerequisite for the auction was the government’s decision to sell 67.2% of the shares of SGC along with shares in other enterprises of the group, which had previously been converted into state property at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office.
The lot is valued at approximately 162 billion rubles. The main part—almost 140.4 billion rubles—accounts for the share in the parent PJSC itself. The lot also includes 100% of the management company YuGK, LLC Business-Active, LLC Home, various shares in the agricultural complex Ecomodul, Gardens of the Foothills, Uraltranskomplekt, 1% each in the Loading and Transport Administration and the Korkinsky Excavator and Car Repair Plant, as well as 80% in Arbat City with a starting price of 1 ruble. The auction step is set at 2% of the starting price (about 3.24 billion rubles), while participants must make a deposit of 20% of the starting price, which is 32.4 billion rubles.
Analysts agreed that the assessment of the Federal Property Management Agency is not underestimated. As Freedom Finance Global analyst Vladimir Chernov notes, if you extrapolate the value of the share to the entire company, you get about 209 billion rubles, or about 0.94 rubles. per share. For comparison: on May 6, SGC shares were trading at approximately 0.75 rubles. with a capitalization of 166.6 billion rubles. Thus, the starting price implies a premium of approximately 25% to the exchange value, Mr. Chernov points out, “and this is no longer a discount sale.” According to the multipliers, according to the expert, the picture also looks normal: based on the assessment of the Federal Property Management Agency, the P/E (price to earnings) ratio is about 13x, and EV/EBITDA (company value to EBITDA) is about 6.9x, which for a gold miner with a large resource base does not look overpriced given high gold prices.
Advisor to the fund manager “Industrial Code” Maxim Shaposhnikov adds that now the price of gold has rolled back from its highs to $4.57–4.68 thousand per troy ounce, but remains higher than last year’s values. And if SGC had maintained production at the level of 10.6 tons, as in 2024, its revenue would have reached approximately 118 billion rubles – this is comparable to an asset valuation of 162 billion rubles, and for a gold miner this ratio is normal. However, in 2025, production decreased by 17–27%, and after the seizure from Konstantin Strukov, the future of the company became uncertain. Mr. Shaposhnikov also recalls the movements of SGC funds in mid-March, when the court first arrested 32.1 billion rubles, and ten days later canceled the arrest. This amount, notes Mr. Shaposhnikov, exactly corresponds to the size of the deposit of 20%, which may serve as a sign of the presence of an applicant who has already contributed this money.
Both experts expect trading to take place closer to the lower limit – around the starting price or with a slight increase of one or two steps. With a step of 3.24 billion rubles. Even one or two increases, notes Mr. Chernov, will give the Federal Property Management Agency 3–6 billion rubles. He does not expect a strong increase in prices, because the buyer must quickly make a decision and make a deposit of 32.4 billion rubles. and take over not only gold mining, but also the entire legal, corporate and management framework. Since one participant is enough to recognize this auction as valid, the likelihood of fierce competition is low.
Maxim Shaposhnikov also believes that the auction will be held with one major player, and the result, most likely, will be one step from the initial price: a deposit of 20% and high legal risks can only be shouldered by a strong player, he explains, and a step of 2% simplifies the procedure.
As for the non-core assets included in the lot, they, according to Vladimir Chernov, will not become the main factor in pricing, since the main cost is still included in the Southern Gas Complex. Mr. Shaposhnikov calls non-core assets a “necessary evil” that will force the buyer “to spend an additional 15–25 billion rubles. to pay off their debts, but a company producing 10.6 tons of gold per year is worth it.”
Among potential buyers, Mr. Chernov names major gold mining players: UMMC or related structures, “Pole”, Nordgold, GV Gold, Seligdar, as well as financial investors with strong banking leverage. “The media separately named Atlas Mining, associated with the son of the founder of UMMC Jahangir Makhmudov,” recalls Mr. Chernov. “Polyus would look like a strong profile buyer, but for him the main issue is the price, the antimonopoly policy of the FAS and the integration of the asset. Nordgold and GV Gold could look at SGC as a way to dramatically increase scale, and UMMC makes sense in terms of mining experience and pre-existing interest in gold.” Maxim Shaposhnikov, in turn, names UMMC or Vladislav Sviblov’s structures as the main contenders, also admitting the participation of VEB.RF, but considers it less likely, and at the same time doubts the interest of Polyus due to the quality of SGC’s assets. Both experts agree that the asset will ultimately go to a major player with powerful political and financial resources.
