The Russian stock market has come of age. For the first time, companies are turning to their equity to raise capital. More companies floated on the Russian Trading System (RTS) last year than all the initial public offerings (IPOs) since the market was set up in the early 1990s and this year an explosive rise in IPOs is expected from across the industrial spectrum.
Companies have been talking about IPOs for years but, until recently, few took the plunge. A dozen Russian companies debuted on the RTS in 2004, raising €241m. In the first three months of this year, another nine have sold shares to investors raising €119m. RTS president Oleg Safonov says that more than 50 companies plan to float this year and analysts estimate there is more than $5bn in the IPO pipeline during the next couple of years.
