Investors considering Russian mobile operator MegaFon’s forthcoming IPO are reportedly seeking company valuations of US$10bn to US$11bn.
Earlier trading estimates for the company, which last Tuesday announced plans to proceed with an IPO on the London…
Investors considering Russian mobile operator MegaFon’s forthcoming IPO are reportedly seeking company valuations of US$10bn to US$11bn.
Earlier trading estimates for the company, which last Tuesday announced plans to proceed with an IPO on the London Stock Exchange before the end of the year, valued it at US$12bn to US$16bn.
A US$10bn valuation would likely result in more-than-adequate demand for offered shares, Bloomberg reported, citing two unidentified sources familiar with the plans. The price tag would represent a discount to that attached to Russia’s largest operator, already-listed MobileTelesystems (MTS).
MegaFon has declined to comment on the valuation.
While MegaFon has approval from the Russian regulator to list up to 123.38 million shares (19.9% of the total) abroad, the operator has not specified the size of the stake it plans to float. Russian newspaper Kommersant reported the company now intends to offer just 15% of its total share capital.
Sonera, a subsidiary of Swedish shareholder TeliaSonera, and MegaFon unit MegaFon Investments (Cyprus) Limited (MICL) currently own the shares to be floated.
Morgan Stanley and Sberbank CIB are acting as global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the IPO. Citi, Credit Suisse and VTB Capital are also joint bookrunners.
Investor Alisher Usmanov is MegaFon’s controlling shareholder via AF Telecom with a 50% stake plus one share. TeliaSonera owns 35.6% and MICL owns 14.4%.
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