IPO MICEX: The exchange did not surprise

The IPO of the largest exchange in Russia was held along the lower border of the previously declared price range. The price of the primary placement of shares in the Moscow Exchange amounted to 55 rubles per share. Initially declared IPO price range, within the framework of 55–63 rubles per share on Thursday, was narrowed to 55–57 rubles.

It seems that the weak subscription to the promotions during the Road Show (the sources close to the placement spoke only about 10–20% of the retardation) forced sellers to modify their appetite. The book of applications closed at 19:00 Moscow time the day before. Market participants evaluated its parameters with interest. Even before the book was closed, information about a large retraining was seeped, large volumes of individual applications ($ 250 million) were called, as the most likely price they spoke about the upper bar of the narrowed corridor - 57 rubles per share. However, it seems that interest was heated by the arrival of “anchor” investors on the last day. It was provided by the participation in the IPO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIP), which attracted the exchange of the exchange, in particular the Chinese China Investment Corp. (CIC), BlackRock Foundation, Cartesian Capital and Oppenheimer. Apparently, these investors became the main buyers.

However, it was not possible to make a miracle even at the expense of anchor investors. The price turned out to be equal to the lower bar - 55 rubles, and papers were placed for 15 billion rubles - the previously declared volume also did not increase up to 20 billion rubles, although the conversations were about this. Demand exceeded the real volume by more than doubled. According to the results of the IPO, the market capitalization of the Moscow exchange amounted to about 127 billion rubles (approximately 4.2 billion US dollars). Thus, about 12% of the authorized capital of the exchange were placed. It is possible that the exchange, having stated on the lower bar, decided not to share the fate of an expensive issuer, who after an IPO loses a significant share of capitalization.

It is possible that there is an agreement with large players that the market price of 55 rubles per share of the exchange will be supported for some time. The secondary trading in stocks that have begun today are held within the limits, as already mentioned, prices are about 55 rubles per paper, which partly confirms the assumption of market makers. However, the volume of bidding is still small - at 13:30 Moscow time it amounted to about 3 million rubles - this one, for example, from a megaphone IPO, who spent (by the way, is inexpensive) in the fall; His shares since November have grown well (about 1/3).

So in the “blue chips” the stock shares is still early to record (by 13:30 in Moscow, they were working on 6 billion rubles by Sberbank). However, about 800 citizens who acquired about 3% of the placed shares took part in the IPO. In addition, according to the results of the placement, the share of shares of the Moscow Exchange in free circulation (Free Float) will be approximately 30%, which is a good back for their brisk trade. Again, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation plans to get out of the capital of the Moscow exchange in two years, which should increase the transparency of its corporate governance and, accordingly, attractiveness for investors. In addition, according to the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Moscow Exchange Andrei Shemetov, three years later he expects an increase in the price of the stock exchange by 50%.