The London Stock Exchange today celebrated the admission to trading of Magnit, which takes the number of companies from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States on the Exchange’s markets to 100. The company’s GDR issue in London will supplement existing Magnit listings on the RTS and MICEX stock exchanges.
OJSC Magnit is one of the largest retail chains in Russia with over 2,200 stores located in more than 700 cities and towns across the Russian Federation. The company, together with the selling shareholder Lavreno Limited, have offered 11,517,400 shares in the form of ordinary shares and Global Depositary Receipts, corresponding to a total deal size of approximately $490 million [1]. Magnit plans to use the funds raised through its global offering to expand its portfolio of hypermarkets and convenience stores and develop its logistics platform.
Sergey Galitskiy, CEO of OJSC Magnit, said:
"Listing on the London Stock Exchange is an important stage in our company's development. The proceeds of the flotation will help us to continue to expand and will strengthen the company's market position.”
Tracey Pierce, Head of Equity Primary Markets at the London Stock Exchange, said:
“We are delighted to welcome Magnit to our markets today. They have become the 100th company from the region on our markets, trading alongside some of the biggest names in Russian business.
“Magnit’s listing on the LSE is a great example of the important role that the City of London and its community of international advisers and investors have played in supporting the development of Russian companies and the Russian economy.
“Companies from the CIS have raised $73 billion through IPOs, further money raising and debt issues on our markets. It is a privilege to have played a part in this and we look forward to working with our partners in London and across the CIS to help the next 100 companies from the region to fulfil their ambitions.”
The Exchange offers issuers from the CIS access to a range of markets, designed to suit the company’s stage of development and the types of investors that it wishes to access. Companies that wish to access the broadest possible range of investors can choose to comply with the UK’s super-equivalent listings standards and take a primary listing on the Main Market. Companies that are focussed on accessing London’s unrivalled pool of professionally managed international investment capital can issue Global Depositary Receipts traded on the Exchange’s International Order Book, while smaller, growing companies can gain admission to AIM, which is home to 49 companies from the CIS.
- CIS companies on AIM have raised $3.6 billion through further issues
- In addition, companies from the CIS have raised over $27.5 billion through bond issues on the London Stock Exchange.
- Over $946 billion has been traded in securities from CIS companies of which $887 billion was traded in GDRs on the Exchange’s International Order Book.
- CIS companies on the Main Market and AIM are drawn from 22 different sectors. The top five sectors represented in terms of market capitalisation are: mining; oil and gas; real estate; industrial metals and banking.
- In December 2006 the Exchange launched the FTSE Russia IOB Index, which tracked the value of the ten biggest and most liquid GDRs on the IOB. The index has recently been expanded to fifteen constituents, reflecting the growth in trading volumes and in the number of issuers.
[1] The final deal size is subject to payment of pre-emptive rights.
