The shares of Gabriel Resources, the Canadian company that owns 80% of the Roşia Montană gold mining project in Romania – traded at the Toronto Stock Exchange – boasted a 37.6% advance as of February 6 from five days earlier when international media reported the Romanian state would pay at least USD 2bn in compensation, in litigation at World Bank’s ICSID court.
However, the company’s market value reached only CAD$663mn, the equivalent of USD 490mn, Ziarul Financiar announced. The sentence is expected on February 10. This indicates an increase in the company’s market capitalization by USD 140mn – a small portion of the USD 2bn, the lowest value of the compensations Romania may have to pay.
Five shareholders own 70.4% of Gabriel Resources shares, according to Ziarul Financiar. The investment group Kopernik Global Investors, based in Florida, owns a 17.11% stake. The financial services firm Tenor Capital Management, established 20 years ago in New York, USA, has a 16.3% stake.
Electrum Global Holdings owns 13.25% of the capital. Electrum is an investment and consulting company, also from New York, founded and led by Thomas Kaplan, an entrepreneur and investor in natural resources.
