Russian companies favor the London Stock Exchange.
Since Luke Oil Company's IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2002, in 2005, the listing boom of Russian enterprises reappeared in the London stock market. In 2005, * * * 6 Russian companies listed on the London Stock Exchange for the first time, with a total financing scale of 5 1 100 million US dollars. Among them, Russian enterprise giant Sistema raised $65.438+0.2 billion. Pyaterochka and Novolipetsk Steel, Russia's largest retailers, each raised $625 million.
This year, the pace of listing of Russian enterprises overseas (including the London Stock Exchange) does not seem to have slowed down, and it is expected that their total IPO will raise billions of dollars in the second half of this year.
Russell Watkins (Latham &; Anya Goldin, Watkins' managing partner, has long served as a listing consultant for some Russian companies. She attributed the listing boom of Russian companies to the following factors. She said: "Now the overall economic environment is very favorable and the enthusiasm of investors is very high. Russian companies have always regarded the London Stock Exchange as the first choice for overseas listing, because the listing procedure in London is simple and fast, and there is no strict Sarbanes-Aoukel Act. "
Although the intermediary agencies represented by Anya Golding are full of confidence in the short-term upsurge of Russian IPO market, she also warned that as Russia will enter the parliamentary and presidential elections in 2007-2008, political uncertainty may slow down the IPO pace of Russian enterprises.
Russum Watkins is an intermediary company headquartered in Los Angeles, USA. It is in a leading position among Russian publishers. Assisted Novatek, Russia's largest independent natural gas company, to complete the IPO, raising $940 million. Russum Watkins also helped Sistema complete the IPO. In 2006, Russum Watkins also helped Comstar, a subsidiary of Sistema, complete its initial public offering in London, which was the first IPO project of a Russian company on the London Stock Exchange this year.
It is reported that Russum Watkins is assisting Vneshtorgbank to realize IPO, with an estimated financing of 2 billion US dollars. In addition, a series of Russian domestic commercial banks, including Moscow Bank, Ross Bank and Gateprom Bank, also plan to list on the London Stock Exchange in the second half of this year.
Some analysts believe that Russia has not made more progress in information disclosure, and transparency is still a potential risk that plagues these listed assets.
In addition, according to relevant Russian regulations, companies wishing to list overseas must not only obtain the approval of the government and securities regulatory authorities, but also reserve a considerable number of shares for Russian domestic investors.
Soros's opposition
Earlier, it was reported that Rosneft, a Russian state-owned oil company, was about to complete its IPO in July this year, with a total financing of $654.38+0-20 billion. However, the famous financier george soros recently sent a letter to the Financial Times on April 26th, 2006, questioning the IPO of Russian oil companies. Soros said: State-owned oil companies plan to list on the London Stock Exchange, which may cause serious moral and energy security problems.
Soros said: "A large part of Europe's energy supply depends on a certain country, and this country will not hesitate to use its monopoly power indirectly or directly." He believes that allowing Russian oil companies to implement this IPO plan will consolidate and legalize this situation, which will endanger Europe's energy security and weaken the weight of the EU to win better conditions for itself when negotiating with Russia.
Soros is one of the largest and earliest investors who use portfolio in Russia. Rosneft's IPO is expected to be held in July, and the financing amount may be as high as 20 billion US dollars, which is the highest in the world. However, around the fact that Rosneft's biggest asset is Yuganskneftegaz, Soros emphasized the existence of moral problems.
Yugansk was once the main production department of Yukos, an oil group founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Russian oil company bought Yugansk in an auction hosted by the Russian government after he was sentenced to prison for fraud, and Yukos was hit hard by suspected tax arrears of $28 billion.
Query on London Stock Exchange
Clara Furse, CEO of the London Stock Exchange, sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin in April this year, expressing dissatisfaction with the Russian authorities' restrictions on the entry of foreign investors.
Hermitage Capital Fund in Braud is the largest single investor in Russian stock market. Since last June 165438+ 10, Russian authorities have banned Braud from entering Russia.
In his letter to President Putin, Firth believes that this move will damage Russia's image of "welcoming foreign investment" and "may have a negative impact on Russian enterprises' financing abroad". She said that if the largest single investor in the Russian market is prohibited from entering the country at will, it will send a very negative signal to other parties.
Analysts believe that this unusual move by the London Stock Exchange also shows that foreign investors are worried about the separation of government from enterprises in Russia, especially the weak corporate governance standards in Russia.
Anya Gauting thinks that the initial public offering of Rosneft is a special case. She said: "Russian oil companies are very individual, and investors cannot completely deny the overseas listing tide of Russian companies because of many disputes related to this." Of course, she does not deny that Rosneft faces many risks. She said that Russia is a high-risk and high-return market. If investors want to enter the Russian market, they must plan ahead, make preparations early and respond flexibly.