#Russia’s Pandemic Winners Drive $10 Billion Share Sale Pipeline - Bloomberg

Russia’s Pandemic Winners Drive $10 Billion Share Sale Pipeline - Bloomberg

Russia is on track for a blockbuster year of share sales, led by gold miners, e-commerce companies, and other firms emerging stronger from the pandemic.

Initial and secondary public offerings by Russian companies on domestic and foreign exchanges could exceed $10 billion this year, according to VTB Capital, the investment-banking arm of Russia’s second-biggest lender. That would be the strongest showing in at least eight years, Dealogic data show.

For now, markets are awash with stimulus, tempting local companies to join the global IPO rush after Russia’s benchmark MOEX stock index hit a record high last month. That could change if opposition leader Alexey Navalny’s arrest and imprisonment triggers tougher sanctions from the U.S. and Europe, but some investors are betting fresh penalties wouldn’t be severe enough to rattle markets.

“A lot of the companies planning equity offerings benefited from the pandemic, and their value increased,” said Fedor Tregubenko, UBS Group AG’s Russia chief. “Financial markets had a large liquidity boost last year, so there is demand for new investments.”