Moscow exchange to hold domestic IPO
The Moscow Exchange will hold its initial public offering (IPO) on its own trading floor, Russia's leading stock exchange said in a statement on Monday, without disclosing the size and time of the flotation, RIA Novosti reported.
The Moscow Exchange, which was established in 2011 in a merger of Russia's two major stock exchanges, the MICEX and RTS, will offer ordinary shares to institutional and retail investors in Russia and institutional investors outside Russia, the Exchange said.
"Shares will be offered by one or both subsidiary companies of the Moscow Exchange - MICEX (Cyprus) Limited and MICEX-Finance. All of the Moscow Exchange's existing shareholders, except for the Central Bank of Russia, will be offered to act as sellers of the shares through MICEX (Cyprus) Limited," the Exchange said.
As of December 13, 2012, the Moscow Exchange's largest shareholders were the Central Bank of Russia (24.3 percent), Sberbank (10.4 percent), VEB (8.7 percent), the EBRD (6.3 percent), Unicredit Bank ( 6.2 percent) and VTB Bank (6 percent).
A banking source previously told Prime news agency the Moscow Exchange would open an IPO bid book in February and has held meetings with potential investors who showed stable demand for the bourse's shares "at a certain price."
Another source said the IPO pricing could take place in the first half of February.
The Moscow Exchange previously announced it was set to raise at least $300 million through the IPO.