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bne June 2019 Companies & Markets I 23
bne:Funds
Russian HeadHunter makes first NASDAQ IPO since 2013
bne IntelliNews
Leading Russian online job search portal HeadHunter carried out a successful IPO on NASDAQ, on May 9 placing 16.3mn ADRs or 32% of capital at $13.5 per ADR, the upper range
of price guidance. The shares of the newcomer jumped by 24% in the first two trading days, bring HeadHunter's valuation from $675mn to $837mn on May 10.
This made the first Russian offering on NASDAQ since 2013, when another two digital majors TCS banking group and Qiwi electronic payment system listed on the exchange. While not
“The shares of the newcomer jumped by 24% in the first two trading days”
a single IPO or SPO was seen in 2018, since the start of this year a number of Russian companies have announced deals including Polyus Gold which raised $390mn from a placement.
However, the SPO by meat major Cherkizovo has failed, as reported by bne IntelliNews, while and rail operator RusTrans- Com that announced IPO plans later called off the offering. HeadHunter, however, enjoyed high demand, with the book
Job search portal HeadHunter was the first Russian company to IPO on NASDAQ since 2013.
for the IPO oversubscribed more than 10-fold, according to Kommersant daily.
The shares of the HeadHunter were sold by the Highworld Investments (59.99% of the shares), ELQ Investors VIII (invest- ment division of Goldman Sachs Group, holds 40%), selling 9.8mn and 6.5mn of ADRs (American Depository Receipts) and raising $132mn and $88mn from the IPO, respectively.
Kommersant also reported that 9% of the IPO proceeds will be received by Ivan Tavrin's structures. Reportedly Tavrin, the ex- CEO of MegaFon mobile major and ex-board member of internet major Mail.ru, is entitled for 9% of any revenues of Highworld and ELQ since selling the shares in HeadHunter to them in 2016.
HeadHunter is the leader in the online recruitment segment in Russia with over 50% market share as well as in several neigh- bouring Russian-speaking countries. In 2018 the
classifieds market grew by 28% to RUB10.3bn, according
to J'Son & Partners estimates cited by Vedomosti daily.
The start-up was founded in 2000 under the name ‘National Job Club’. Starting from 2007, Yuri Milner’s Digital Sky Tech- nologies (which later became Mail.Ru Group) bought stakes in HeadHunter, but Mail.Ru Group sold the company in 2016.
Russia’s tiny, but growing venture capital market reached $714mn in 2018
EWDN in Moscow
Russia’s venture capital (VC) market increased by half in size in terms of the volume of investments to $714mn
in 2018 as professional funds increasingly target Russian start ups and maturing tech companies for investment, according to a new report.
DSight, a database of deals dedicated to the Russian venture market, has just released the English version of its latest yearly
report, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN). The research includes contributions from EY, investor association NAIMA, CrunchBase as well as East-West Digital News.
The VC market grew significantly last year, reaching $714.4mn, up 51.6% from 2017. These numbers include deals involving startups registered outside Russia but with roots in the country. Thus, the three largest deals of last year were:
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