Essar and Barrick go straight into Footsie

9th Jun 2010 18:00

Two of this year's new issues have gone straight into the FTSE 100 index. Essar Energy and African Barrick Gold are the only two new inclusions in the the latest FTSE quarterly changes will further increase the non-UK proportion of the Footsie. The two resources businesses replaced London Stock Exchange and tour operator Thomas Cook, which have dropped to the FTSE 250 index. Essar Energy has barely been listed for more than one month having joined the Main Market on 7 May. The India-focused energy company had to revise downwards its issue price and the amount of cash it raised when it joined the London market. Essar raised £1.3bn at 420p a share compared with the originally indicated price range of 450p a share and 550p a share. At 449.5p a share, Essar is valued at £5.86bn. This was still the second largest Indian flotation ever. Essar is involved in oil and gas exploration and production, refinery operation and power generation. Essar Global Ltd owns 76.74% of Essar Energy, which is incorporated in the UK and has its head office in Mauritius. The lack of free float is why the investment weighting in the index will only be 30% - African Barrick has the same investment weighting.African Barrick was spun out of Barrick Gold in March - just after the previous quarterly FTSE changes. The company is Tanzania's biggest producer of gold. At 632p a share, African Barrick is valued at £2.59bn. One noticeable name on the Footsie reserve list is Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk. Formerly known as Peter Hambro Mining, the company moved from AIM in April 2009. It is now top of the reserve list so it should be the next Footsie entrant if anybody leaves the Footsie over the next three months. Others on the reserve list are Informa, Tate & Lyle, Rentokil Initial, Tomkins and Meggitt. Former AIM-quoted gold miner Centamin Egypt and two recent new issues - fashion clothing supplier SuperGroup and electronic whiteboards maker Promethean World - are among the new inclusions in the FTSE 250. Trinity Mirror, F&C Asset Management and HMV are some of the companies that have slid into the FTSE SmallCap index.