Updated September 15, 2008

   Strikeforce Mining and Resources Ltd. (SMR) (owns mining assets of Basic Element Company and belongs to the top billionaire Oleg Deripaska) can become the first Russian company that will hold IPO at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Early in October, SMR will present the oncoming IPO in Hong Kong.

   The company plans to attract nearly $200 million, and to place 25% of stocks at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE). Bank of China and Morgan Stanley act as managers of IPO.

   In the opinion of Veles Capital Company’s analyst Stanislas Fomenko, nobody will invest in the new stocks at the London Stock Exchange, where SMR could be placed. The core reason is the financial crisis in the USA. "Therefore, the company has decided to enter the Asian floors, where the investors will take probably more interest in the Russian player", the expert considers.

   Metropol Company’s analyst Maxim Khudalov considers that at the moment, it is the terrible period for the placement. "The securities of almost all companies are undervalued", the expert is convinced. "Obviously, Russia’s SMR faced the shortage of money. Probably, Basic Element’s subsidiary didn’t manage to take loans in the banks, therefore the only thing it had is to place stocks at a stock exchange".

   According to the analyst, as a rule, the mining companies are holding their IPOs at the European floors, since investors take major interest in them there. "Obviously, the HKSE has easier procedure of registration, therefore SMR has entered the Asian floor to accelerate the process of money receipt", Maxim Khudalov supposes. "However, on the background of the negative situation at the stock market, and in the light of the foreign policy statements of the US authorities over Russia, I fear that the company will not manage to attract the required sum".