The first-ever listing of a Mongolian company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange(HKSE)  – also ranked as the second highest non-domestic, non-Chinese company listing in Hong Kong, after UC Rusal's US$2.2 billion IPO in January – has paved the way for an infrastructure and mining boom in Mongolia as international investments pour into the country’s natural resources sector.

Milbank Tweed and Mallesons have both advised the issuer, coking coal producer Mongolian Mining Corporation, on its US$650m debut on the HKSE – the biggest by a Mongolian company and the first Mongolian company listing in Hong Kong.

Milbank’s Asia head of corporate practice Andrew Root and Dieter Yih, a recent recruit from Mallesons, led the teams from the issuer’s side.

Skadden acted for underwriters Citibank and JP Morgan.

According to Root, international interest in Mongolia’s rich natural reserves is growing. Greater accessibility created by improved infrastructure (in a country that three years ago had only two or three sealed roads outside Ulaanbaatar) is driving the “voracious” appetite for investment into Mongolia. “Certainly you will be seeing more Mongolian companies coming to market across an array of natural resource sectors,” Root told ALB in an interview. “With the creation of the new infrastructure and a much higher level of international investment into Mongolia, we foresee more Mongolian IPOs in the pipeline,” he said.

Lawyers based in Asia confirm that a number of copper, iron and coal projects in Mongolia are getting ready to come to market, though further details cannot be disclosed.ALB