Russia readies for IPO flurry that will raise at least $10 bln this year, says UBS

Fix Price

16/03/2021 14:01

By Katya Golubkova
    MOSCOW, March 16 (Reuters) - Russian companies, back on
global investors' radar since late last year, are set for an IPO
boom in 2021 with initial public offerings expected to raise at
least $10 billion, the highest in more than a decade, says UBS.
    Russian gold miner GV Gold on Monday became the latest
Russian company to announce plans for an IPO, following
e-commerce firm Ozon's  OZON.O  Nasdaq listing in November and
retailer Fix Price's  FIXPq.L  offering in London earlier this
month.
    "This year could be best for equity raisings from Russia
since 2007 given the global liquidity boost and the fact that
Russia was overlooked and underinvested in the recent past,"
Fedor Tregubenko, UBS Group country head in Russia, told
Reuters. 
    Last year, Russian companies raised less than $2 billion in
IPOs as investor sentiment was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and
the risk of possible new Western sanctions on Russia following
the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
    With the global economy set to pick up this year and U.S.
President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion fiscal package adding to
already vast central bank and government stimulus around the
world, equity markets are expected to see inflows.
    On a price-to-earnings ratio, Russian stocks' discount to
their emerging and developed market peers has widened this year
from 2020 levels, returning to the historical average of around
50%, according to Gazprombank.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2LA4UV 
    Valuations are especially attractive given that some
companies are offering high dividend yields combined with above
average growth rates, Tregubenko, whose bank is among regular
arrangers for Russian IPOs, said. 
    "We expect to see at least $10 billion in IPO volumes from
Russia this year in a wide variety of sectors ranging from
retail to mining and the financial sector to IT," he said. 
    Fix Price alone raised $2 billion in its IPO and GV Gold,
which counts UBS as one of its IPO arrangers, targets another
$500 million, banking sources have said. 
    Forestry group Segezha, gold producer Nordgold and Svetofor
which operates driving schools and online driving theory
courses, are also considering IPOs, according to sources and
media reports.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2LD0BK  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2L31HV  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nFWN2JV0Q2
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nR4N2JQ01T 
    Russian cybersecurity company Positive Technologies is
looking to float its shares in Moscow, targeting $200-$300
million from a 10% share offering, Kommersant daily newspaper
reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources. 
    

 (Reporting by Katya Golubkova;
Additional reporting by Olga Popova and Alexander Marrow;
Editing by Susan Fenton)
 ((ekaterina.golubkova@thomsonreuters.com; +7 495 775 1242;))