The demand for shares of “SPB Exchange” during the IPO amounted to $ 800 million

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SPB Exchange has successfully placed its shares on its own platform. As part of the IPO, investors were offered up to 15.2 million ordinary shares (about 13.3% of the capital). The placement took place at the upper border of the price range of $ 11.5 (834.9 rubles), the company said in a statement. Thus, the valuation of the exchange following the results of the IPO will be $ 1.3 billion.

As Vedomosti was informed by two sources close to the placement, the oversubscription of the order book during the placement was 500%, and the total demand turned out to be above $ 800 million, while the company expected to raise about $ 150 million.

The demand for securities was balanced, both from retail investors and from institutional investors and from foreign investors, the interlocutors of Vedomosti note. Demand among retail investors exceeded $ 500 million, and large Western investors were noted among institutional investors, the source said, but did not disclose the names of the companies. IPO “SPB Exchange” attracted the attention of a significantly larger number of retail investors than expected, says one of the interlocutors of the publication.

A source of Vedomosti close to the company’s management notes that “the stock exchange shareholders are satisfied with the financial performance that the asset generates, and therefore are in no hurry to go out of business.” “This is not a cash-out of existing shareholders, this is money for development – for improving the services of the exchange and for strengthening its financial reliability. Therefore, the volume of placement is small. In addition, shareholders and investors are waiting for the placement of shares on foreign markets. Then there will be a large placement, “- said the source of” Vedomosti “.

“In the status of a public company, SPB Exchange intends to use the funds raised during the placement to invest in improving its infrastructure, as well as to implement large-scale plans to expand into new markets and expand the list of instruments,” the General Director of SPB Exchange confirmed to Vedomosti »Roman Goryunov.

He notes that “the SPB exchange has unique liquidity at the time of day when other international platforms are closed, which makes it possible to attract foreign investors who live and work in the same time zones as Russia.” “And, of course, we are working on increasing the number of issuers – in the medium term we plan to increase the number of traded instruments to 2500,” says Goryunov. “In addition, we are planning to start ETF trading in the first half of next year, and we are also thinking of launching a derivatives market next year.”

The first deal was successful in a rather difficult market environment, at the upper limit with a large oversubscription, said the investment strategist of Arikapital Sergei Suverov. The exchange carried out a transaction atypical for Russia to enter the public capital market with preferences for retail investors, the expert notes.

During the second stage, both new shares (cash-in) and blocks of shares of current shareholders (cash-out) will be placed on the NASDAQ, said one of the sources of Vedomosti. Access to NASDAQ was postponed until the summer of 2022. Earlier, Forbes, citing its sources, wrote that at the stage of preparing documents for the SEC, the auditor did not issue a comfort letter to the exchange – a letter that confirms that the information in the documents for registration of securities and the prospectus does not raise questions … Another interlocutor of the publication said that the issuer himself did not have time to prepare the information.

Goryunov explained that the “comfort letter” is issued by the auditor at the moment the placement price is announced. The placement price was announced on the evening of November 18. “And SPB Exchange received the required“ comfortable letter ”at night without difficulty, – says Goryunov. – The SPB Exchange shareholders want the listing both in Russia and on international platforms. Therefore, we are planning to locate in New York. The strategic goal is to enter NASDAQ by the end of 2022 “.

“The placement on its own site at a relatively low estimate provided access to the company’s securities to the Russian retail. And in 2022, during the second stage of the placement on NASDAQ, the Russian investors who participated in the first stage of the transaction will have a second chance to make money: firstly, due to multiple demand and low prices, after the placement, the shares can immediately go up, – secondly, upon entering the NASDAQ, the company’s valuation may still significantly increase, “Suverov believes.

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