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school kids on the first day of school in Russia. Through a 2012 acquisition, it also owns 45 Early Learning Center stores specializing in educational games and toys, reports Bloomberg. Children’s goods has been one of the fastest growing retail categories in recent years. In 2012 Russia briefly became the largest market in Europe for children’s goods overtaking Germany with sales worth $11.3bn of sales a year; market research at the time found that Russians are unusually generous when it comes to shopping for their kids. The last equity investment made in the company was by the Russian-China Investment Fund (RCIF) in January 2016 that is part of the Russian state backed Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). RCIF acquired a 23.1% stake for RUB9.75bn, giving the company an implied total value of RUB42.2bn. Looking back a bit further, in 2012, analyst consensus valued the company at about RUB9.5bn, the company said in its statement.
Russian Helicopters finalised the sale of 12% of its shares to a consortium of international investors assembled by the Russian Fund for Direct Investment (RFDI), the fund said on February 20. The stake was acquired from state technology corporation Rostec, with the buyers including "leading Middle Eastern" investors. The company was valued at $2.35bn in the deal, which will includes investing $300mn in Russian Helicopters at the first, and an additional $600mn in the second stage. The share of the consortium could be increased to 25% in the future. Rostec has profited handsomely from the Kremlin's military modernisation programme, with 50% of its revenues in 2015 coming from military orders . One of the biggest export contracts last year was by Rostec subsidiary Rosoboronexport for the assembly of 200 Ka-226 helicopters in India. The deal of selling up to 25% in Russian Helicopters was closed on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2016, with the stake of Rostec eventually falling to 51%.
Russia's Onexim Group, owned by tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, sold 3.32% of its 17.02% stake in aluminium producer U C Rusal for $240mn, Vedomosti reported on February 14, citing a source with deal organiser Renaissance Capital. There was no immediate confirmation from either company about the sale of the stake at a reported 9% discount, or from the other deal organiser VTB Capital, the paper said. Onexim had intended to sell a 5% stake in Rusal but it was decided to lower the amount after minority shareholders objected, a source close to the shareholders told Vedomosti. It was not clear who purchased the shares, although two large investors came forward shortly before the book closed, the newspaper's source said. Demand was expected to be high due to the rapid growth in Rusal share prices after aluminium prices increased 24% since early 2016. On February 10, the value of the originally planned 5% stake in Rusal on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was $310.8mn (€292mn). Meanwhile, the deal could have an impact on plans by Sual Partners, which controls a 15.8% stake in Rusal, to by a 12% stake in Onexim, which has been under discussion since the summer of 2016.
Russian mobile operator VimpelCom is planning to hold an SPO of its shares in July-September 2016, after rebranding to VEON, Amsterdam-based Vimpelcom Ltd said on February 27. The SPO would double the free float of one of Russia's "big three" operators to 20.1%, with the expected listing to consist of common shares, which could be exchanged for shares already listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. Rebranding of the company (and the trading ticker) to VEON is to be approved by an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on March 30. The rebranding "reflects an ambition to reinvent the company from a telecom company into a global tech
82 RUSSIA Country Report February 2017 www.intellinews.com