Moscow Times 25 September 2012
Promsvyazbank, one of Russia’s biggest privately owned lenders, announced Monday that it will proceed with a $500 million listing in London and Moscow.
The move comes less than a week after market leader Sberbank’s $5.2 secondary public offering, in which high demand meant its books closed in under 48 hours.
Medium-sized Promsvyazbank, which is controlled by the billionaire Ananyev brothers, abandoned an initial public offering attempt in 2008, but a successful placement this time around could make it only one of three Russian financial institutions trading on the London Stock Exchange alongside state-owned giants VTB and Sberbank.
Management will seek to sell the bank to investors as a unique access point to non-state, liquid banking stocks. Privately held Nomos Bank successfully completed a $700 million IPO last year, but will be de-listed in the wake of a tie-up with Otkritie Financial Corporation.