Mongolian coal miner Ikh Gobi seeks pre-IPO investment

HONG KONG, March 21 (Reuters) - Privately owned Mongolian coal miner Ikh Gobi Energy LLC is seeking investment of $100-$200 million this year ahead of a planned Hong Kong initial public offering in 2013, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

"We started to look for investment just two months ago," CEO Enkhtsetseg Chuluunbat told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Hong Kong.

"We are open for discussion and it would be either debt or equity," she said, adding that the money would be used for the company's working capital.

IKH Gobi also planned to tap the Hong Kong IPO market to raise funds for development and would hire investment banks at the end of this year, Chuluunbat said.

The company's wholly owned Mandakh Nuur coking coal project, 165 km from the Mongolian-Chinese Hangi-Mandal border, will start production in late July or early August.

Its key market will be China, the world's largest coal consumer, where it will compete with SouthGobi Resources Ltd , whose Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia is about 40 kilometres from China.

SouthGobi's Hong Kong-listed shares have rebounded about 10 percent this year after losing more than half of their value in 2011 due to volatile financial markets.

"Many interested customers from China have approached us and they want to buy our coal," said Tuvshin Battsereg, manager at Ikh Gobi's foreign trade and investment department.

The project is expected to have a deposit of 100 million tonnes of coal. The company plans to produce 500,000 tonnes of coal this year, rising to 20 million tonnes a year in 2015.

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