On 7 October, Moscow Exchange launched trading in Sovcomflot shares following the Company’s successful IPO. The shares trade under the ticker “FLOT” and are included in MOEX’s highest Level One quotation list.
The listing ceremony was attended by Maxim Oreshkin, an advisor to President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Minister of Energy Pavel Sorokin; Chairman of the Sovcomflot Board of Directors Sergey Frank, and the Company’s CEO and President Igor Tonkovidov; as well as Oleg Viyugin, Chairman of the Moscow Exchange Supervisory Board.
Sovcomflot floated a 17.2% stake through its IPO, which ran from 28 September to 6 October and priced at RUB 105 per ordinary share. The government’s stake in Sovcomflot will remain at 82.8%.
VTB Capital, Citigroup Global Markets Limited, Sberbank CIB, J.P. Morgan and BofA Securities acted as joint global coordinators and bookrunners, with ING Bank as a co-manager.
Sovcomflot intends to use the funds raised through the IPO for corporate needs, including investments into new industrial projects, decarbonisation, and further reduction of its debt burden.
Oleg Viyugin, Chairman of the MOEX Supervisory Board, said: “Sovcomflot’s IPO confirms that Russia’s capital markets infrastructure can facilitate major public transactions and enable Russian companies to access a wide range of investors. New issuers create more portfolio diversification opportunities for Russian investors, including nearly seven million individual investors. Retail investors accounted for 15% of demand for Sovcomflot shares – a record for public offerings in Russia. Sovcomflot offering shows that capital markets are open to major Russian companies, and I wish our new issuer every success in its public journey.”
Igor Tonkovidov, CEO and President of Sovcomflot, said: “We are excited that Sovcomflot’s IPO generated strong investor interest, underscoring the company’s strong investment case and growth potential. Thanks to the IPO, Sovcomflot gained access to equity capital, an additional source of financing for future growth. On behalf of the company, I would like to thank MOEX and all of the IPO organisers, VTB Capital, Citi, Sberbank, JP Morgan and Bank of America, for a job well done. I also would like to thank our majority shareholder for supporting the company in all of its efforts to raise capital, giving Sovcomflot an effective tool to expand its business in the interests of all shareholders.”