Russia’s Sistema sees successful IPOs of Steppe, Segezha Group

MOSCOW, Apr 9 (PRIME) -- Russian multi-industry holding Sistema expects the initial public offerings (IPOs) of its agricultural holding Steppe and pulp and paper holding Segezha Group to be more successful than a 2017 IPO of children goods retailer Detsky Mir, Sistema President Andrei Dubovskov told reporters late on Monday.

“You saw the results of Steppe and Segezha, you saw how fast they are growing. Previously we thought that IPOs of Segezha or Steppe in two to three years may be close to what we had with Detsky Mir, but now we think that these IPOs may be more successful that the one of Detsky Mir,” he said.

Margins and prospects are higher in the agricultural and timber industries than in the retail. “And we expect that our upside there is far more serious that we may have with Detsky Mir,” he said.

But he did not name any terms for the IPOs. “We don’t have a goal of definitely doing that next year or whenever else. The market is to decide here, it depends on the window of opportunities and on our own understanding of how the maturity level of these assets corresponds to the goal. So we have no terms,” he said.

Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), told reporters that the fund is considering several deals with Sistema.

“We are planning investment, including investment in several holdings that have been created as of today, we are closing the deal on pharmaceutical assets, and we are actively planning deals with Sistema. We are looking at Segezha and several other projects,” he said.

Sistema floated Detsky Mir at the Moscow Exchange at 85 rubles, and shareholders of the company sold 29.3% in the retailer.

(65.3498 rubles – U.S. $1)

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