MEGAFON, RUSSIA’S second largest mobile phone operator, has asked its local regulator for permission to list its shares in London for what would be the world’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) since Facebook’s in May.
The company, in which Russia’s richest man Alisher Usmanov took control in a complex deal in April, is looking to float a 20 per cent stake that could be worth as much as $4 billion.
The float would offer investors exposure to a firm that has positioned itself aggressively for the rollout of high-speed mobile data services loved by iPhone-toting urban Russians, and is backed by the impeccable Kremlin connections of Mr Usmanov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at $18.1 billion.
In a filing yesterday, MegaFon requested permission from Russia’s financial markets regulator to list up to 123 million shares abroad, some 19.9 per cent.
“We are considering the possibility of holding an IPO,” MegaFon said in response to questions about the filing. “The timing of the public offering will depend on market conditions.”
The dismal post-IPO performance of Facebook’s $16 billion offering has hit investor appetite for new stock offerings, although global stock markets have drifted higher through the summer, boosting the confidence of investors and new issuers alike.
“MegaFon’s IPO is likely to be one of the few positive Russian stories due to the combination of healthy business growth and good corporate governance,” said Tibor Bokor, a London-based analyst at ING.
If MegaFon gets the deal away it would be the largest IPO by a Russian company since state bank VTB raised $8 billion in 2007.
Notable Russian IPOs since include aluminium group Rusal’s $2.2 billion listing in Hong Kong in 2010, and internet search engine Yandex’s $1.4 billion float on the US Nasdaq exchange in May 2011.
A MegaFon IPO would be a defining deal for Mr Usmanov, an Uzbek-born metals and mining magnate who has shown a deft touch as an investor and made 10 times his money investing in Facebook three years before it listed.
A source close to the deal said a launch of the IPO is probably three to four weeks away. – (Reuters)
