Friedland Seeks Congo Funding After Gobi Exit: Corporate Canada

Robert Friedland, the billionaire who spent the past decade building a $6 billion copper mine in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, is asking investors to fund projects in an even riskier locale -- the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Ivanplats Ltd., a Friedland-controlled mining company, plans to raise about C$300 million ($307 million) in an initial public offering in Toronto, according to a person with knowledge of the IPO who declined to be identified because the amount hasn’t been published. Vancouver-based Ivanplats seeks funding for its Kamoa copper project in Congo and to repay debt owed to Israeli investor Dan Gertler, who sold the company a zinc mine in the African country last year, according to a prospectus filed with regulators Sept. 10.