Page 80 - bne IntelliNews Country Report: Russia Dec17

underwent massive consolidation as small players were pushed out of the market in 2016. The sector is likely to consolidate further as share agreements in residential development will be eliminated in three years, benefiting the largest developers. The sale of 29mn of GDRs was confirmed by the press-service of Etalon that said that proceeds from the sale will be cashed by the shareholders and noted high investor interest in the shares of the group.
The Russia-Japan Investment fund (RJIF) plans to acquire up to $150mn worth of shares in Russian state-controlled pipeline major T ransneft , Vedomosti reported on November 24, quoting Deputy Minister of Energy Alexey Teksler. RJIF is to purchase preferred shares from the market.
Shares of Russian internet giant Yandex hit an all-time high on the Moscow Stock Exchange on November 24 on the news that merger of the company's taxi service with Uber had been approved by the local regulator. The company’s share price peaked at RUB2,025 ($35.6) on November 24 and the shares closed at RUB2,025.
Struggling Russian supermarket chain Dixy may delist from the Moscow Exchange Setting a buyback price and a date for delisting will be discussed at an emergency general meeting of shareholders on November 22., according to Prime. In July, the board approved a buyback program under which it planned to buy up to 10% in the company for no more than RUB2.5bn over the following 12 months. In September, the board approved a buyback of an additional RUB5bn of shares. Although Dixy is one of Russia’s leading supermarket chains it has struggled with poor sales and missed targets. Revenues slid 15% y/y to RUB71.3bn in the second quarter, in line with expectations and the previous management team was sacked at the start of last year.
The FTSE has announced that it will increase the investability weighting of supermarket chain Magnit to 72.4%, from 64.9%, with the change coming into effect after the close of trading on 20 November. The increase by the FTSE comes on the heels of a similar move by the MSCI. As a result of the increase by the FTSE, we expect USD 29mn of passive inflows via Vanguard ETFs (0.9x 1-month ADTV of GDRs).
Russian internet services major Yandex plans to IPO its taxi ordering business Y andex.Taxi in the US, which recently got a boost from a tie up in a joint venture with Uber, Bloomberg reported on November 16 citing the CFO of Yandex Greg Abovsky. However, while still waiting regulatory approval in Russia and other CIS countries, spending on the taxi business has already undermined Yandex performance. Yandex.Taxi saw its Ebitda decline by 800% y/y to negative RUB6.38bn ($111mn) in January-June. For the July-September accounting period, its Ebitda was RUB3.17bn.
Sonera Holding B.V, a division of Swedish telecom company Telia, sold a 18.96% share in major Russian mobile phone operator Megafon to Gazprombank , TASS reported on November 10. The sale signified the complete pullout of the Swedish company from Megafon, in which it was an original investor, alongside Finland's Sonera and Norway's Telenor Invest AS, back in 1993. The total value of the deal was RUB60.4bn ($1bn), and Gazprombank pledged not to resell the shares for the next six months.
Russian agricultural and meat processing major Cherkizovo may delist
80 RUSSIA Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com