Nomos leads the Russian IPO charge
THE charge of Russian companies looking to London to go public picked up yesterday, as mid-size bank Nomos confirmed plans to float 20 per cent of its stock and several more issuers eyed talks with investors.
The easing of market volatility, which spiked last month on fears of a nuclear crisis in Japan and unrest in the Arab world, has sparked renewed interest in listings, with Russian firms leading the charge.
Nomos kicking off the roadshow for its $700m (£430m) listing means four Russian issuers are now touring investors, seeking to raise a combined total of just over $3bn – more than half the $5.5bn raised by Russian firms in the whole of 2010. The company, Russia’s eighth biggest bank, was the last of the quartet to announce a price range for its share sale.
The order book on sugar and pork group Rusagro’s $300m listing is already fully subscribed ahead of a pricing on Friday, a source close to the deal said.
Mobile phone retailer Euroset is seeking up to $1.52bn it said on on 1 April, while real estate developer Etalon began roadshows for an up to $650m float on Monday.
Nomos, whose offering will close with pricing on 19 April, said it would place ordinary shares at $32 to $37, or $16.0 to $18.5 per global depositary receipt (GDR), in London and Moscow.
The initial public offering (IPO) will largely comprise the sale of existing shares by 18.7 per cent shareholder Roman Korbacka, as well as the placing of new shares worth around 5.5bn roubles ($195m).
The bank’s other major shareholders, Russian businessman Alexander Nesis’ (pictured left) ICT group and Czech PPF Group, controlled by Czech tycoon Petr Kellner, do not plan to reduce their stakes in the bank during the IPO.
At present, PPF Group holds 28.24 per cent in NOMOS-Bank, while ICT group holds 51 per cent.
The bank said the offering would value it at $2.8bn to $3.2bn, while a source close to the deal said previous market estimates of $700m remained the fund-raising target.
Last week the IPO market was set back when Omani based Renaissance pulled the £1bn flotation of its oil services subsidiary Topaz Energy.
The banks took the decision on the day they were supposed to be pricing the float after it became clear that demand had been lower than expected.
MEET THE ADVISERS
NEIL KELL
DEUTSCHE Bank’s advisory team to Nomos is being led by Marina Kraschenko from Moscow and Neil Kell from London. Kell moved to Deutsche Bank from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch last year to become head of the financial institutions group in equity capital markets (ECM). Marina Kraschenko came to Deutsche last year from United Capital Partners to head ECM in Moscow.
DEUTSCHE BANK