German Pikhoya, chief executive officer of Polyus Gold International, has a simple explanation for why Russia’s largest gold miner is switching its main stock listing to London from Moscow later this year. “Because our investors are there,” he says. His decision is unwelcome news for Vladimir Putin, who began his third term as Russia’s president on May 7. Putin and his predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev, have been trying to turn Moscow into a global financial center, in part to diversify Russia’s economy away from its reliance on oil and other resources.
So far their efforts, including merging Moscow’s two biggest exchanges to form Micex-RTS in December, aren’t working. Russian companies from miners to financial institutions continue to flock to foreign exchanges. Six of London’s 10 biggest initial public offerings last year were Russian. This year, Russian companies including mobile-phone operator MegaFon plan to raise as much as $4.7 billion in London, the most since 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Even Russia’s central bank will probably choose London as the primary venue when it sells shares valued at about $6 billion in Sberbank, the nation’s biggest lender, according to people with knowledge of the plan who are not authorized to speak publicly. The sale may come later this year as part of the central bank’s plan to reduce its 60 percent stake in the bank. Russian companies raised $3.7 billion in London IPOs last year, compared with $206 million in Moscow IPOs, according to Bloomberg data.
Russian companies are attracted to London’s deeper investor pool. The combined value of shares traded in the U.K. was $3.3 trillion as of May 7, compared with $807 billion in Russia. Asset managers also remain cautious about Russia’s political uncertainties. “Getting a stock market listing in London is a way for companies to convince investors that they are minimizing the risk of corporate governance issues and politics,” says Maarten-Jan Bakkum, an emerging markets strategist at ING Investment Management (ING).
London also offers the biggest Russian companies the possibility of inclusion in the FTSE 100, the U.K. benchmark for large companies. Those included in the index typically see more demand from index-tracking funds. In December, Evraz, Russia’s largest steelmaker by output, and Polymetal International (POLY), a silver and gold miner, became the first Russian companies to join the FTSE 100 index after switching their main listings to London in November.HT: Abnormal Returns
One disadvantage for Moscow is the dearth of investment money coming from domestic institutional investors, including pension funds, according to Gareth Morgan, a London-based fund manager at F&C Asset Management. Russia’s pension funds put less than 1 percent of their assets in local equity markets, says Ruben Aganbegyan, president of the Micex-RTS. They are required to report positive returns each year, so they invest in more conservative assets such as bonds. In the U.K. about 40 percent of the nation’s pension money is invested in equities, says Aganbegyan....MORE
For the
SEC Approves Eight Russian Shell Companies (AMOK.OB)
Better Get The Leg Irons Boys.
These Ain't Regular Criminals,
These is Stockbrokers.
-One of Climateer's favorite Barron's headlines.
Oh happy day.
Long time readers know I have a morbid fascination* with the underbelly of the markets; it's like watching the lions approach the wildebeest at the watering hole, you don't want to see it but you can't look away.
As they say on the nature shows:
"Sadly now, there can be but one outcome"...And: "A Look at the Old Shell Game: Reverse Mergers From China and Russia (CGA; SGAS; QING; AGVO; AMOK)"
