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At US$ 1.56 billion, the Offering is the largest ever Russian IPO on a public market anywhere in the world. Sistema’s Offering comprises 1,831,563 common shares in the form of 91,578,150 Global Depositary Receipts, with fifty GDRs representing one common share.
The listing is the biggest IPO on the London Stock Exchange’s markets by an international company since the IPO of Orange SA in 2001.
To celebrate the occasion, Mr. Vladimir Evtushenkov, President of Sistema, opened the London Stock Exchange’s markets by switching on ‘The Source,’ a specially commissioned artwork in the main atrium of the London Stock Exchange’s new building in Paternoster Square. He was accompanied by Mrs. Clara Furse, Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange.
Clara Furse said: “We are delighted that Sistema has chosen London for its listing outside of Russia. The capital raised in this IPO demonstrates that London’s markets provide an excellent gateway to international capital for Russian companies along with world-leading regulatory and corporate governance standards.”
Martin Graham, Director of Market Services at the London Stock Exchange, added: “Sistema is the first Russian company to join the Main Market in 2005. With many more Russian companies expressing an interest in a London listing, we anticipate further companies taking their lead.”
A total of 13 Russian companies are traded on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market. In 2004, the Exchange’s member firms traded approximately US$ 64 billion of Russian securities, an increase of 76 per cent on 2003. Trading in Russian securities represented around 59 per cent of the total trading volume on the International Order Book (IOB) in 2004.
The London Stock Exchange attracted a total of 293 IPOs to the Main Market and AIM, of which 49 were international, accounting for 80 per cent of all IPOs in Western Europe in 2004. So far this year, there have been a total of 27 IPOs on the London Stock Exchange’s markets, raising a total of £1.14 billion.
Sistema was advised by Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley, which are acting as Joint Global Coordinators of the Offering.
