Financial services firm Freedom Holding considers Moscow listing after Nasdaq debut

Freedom Holding

15/10/2019 16:13

* Nasdaq listing aimed to boost firm's investor base
    * Moscow listing possible before end of 2019

    By Andrey Ostroukh and Olzhas Auyezov
    MOSCOW, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Freedom Holding Corp  FRHC.O , a
financial services firm focussed on East Europe and Central
Asia, is considering a  Moscow listing, after its shares began
trading on New York's Nasdaq.
    Shares in Freedom Holding Corp initially climbed more than
2% before easing back to trade flat on its Nasdaq debut on
Tuesday at $14.15, its closing price on the OTCQX exchange where
it was listed since July 2018.
    Timur Turlov, Freedom Holding Corp's 31-year-old founder and
chief executive, told Reuters his company was considering a
rouble-denominated listing on the Moscow Exchange. "I hope it
will happen this year," he said in his Moscow office.
    Turlov said the company had taken five years to prepare for
the Nasdaq listing to broaden its investor base.
    "We are getting on the radar of a large group of investors
who do not work with a company that is not listed," he said.
    A Moscow listing would put the firm's shares in Russia's
small-cap indexes Russel 2000 or 3000, putting the company "into
the sight of investors who are looking at our region," he said.
    The firm's Kazakh unit, Freedom Finance, is one of the
biggest and most active brokerages in Kazakhstan.
    The company also became a major investor in Kazakh mobile
operator Kcell  KCEL.KZ  last year, building up a stake of more
than 10% through open market purchases.
    It halved that investment to about 5% before the Nasdaq
listing. Turlov said the shares were sold at a profit.
    Freedom Finance is now setting up a subsidiary in
Kazakhstan's Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC). It
has also been active in neighbouring Uzbekistan.

 (Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh and Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by
Edmund Blair)
 ((andrey.ostroukh@thomsonreuters.com; +7 495 775 1242;))