Page 114 - RUSRptSept18

Sberbank CIB . Previously Reuters profiled TvB and another similar start-up Pump, which emerged to supply the car park of car sharing companies, but now consider competing with traditional petrol stations and supply fuels to regular private drivers. TvB will now be fully integrated into Yandex.Drive. Most recently Yandex also launched a car pooling service, with its pilot Yandex.Poputka app launched in the beginning of 2018 in Krasnoyarsk and Rostov-on-Don, with about 10,000 downloads in Google Play. The market leader in the segment French online car pooling service BlaBlaCar this week said it will acquire its rival in Russia BeepCar owned by internet services major Mail.ru Group . BlaBlaCar plans to double the activity in Russia after the acquisition of BeepCar, according to the CE of BlaBlaCar Nicholas Brusson. An estimated number of users in Russia for the French company stands at 15mn users out of 65mn globally. BeepCar had 2mn registered users as of end of 2017 and had over 5mn app downloads on iOs and Android devices.
Swiss-headquartered software major Luxoft said it will acquire German-based provider of advanced technology solutions for the automotive sector Objective Software , without providing more details on the deal. "The acquisition is likely to give a further boost to Luxoft's business and capabilities in the Automotive Vertical, which has been growing strongly of late," VTB Capital commented on August 7, seeing the news as positive for Luxoft. Previously in June Luxoft announced the acquisition of design and innovation agency Smashing Ideas based in Seattle . The amount of the deal was also not disclosed, but company's cash flow was seen sufficient to finance the $60mn buyback programme announced in April . As for Objective Software acquisition, it would "make Luxoft's offering more attractive in terms of scale and complexity" due to "connected cars and autonomous drive services being among the most important recent trends of the auto industry," VTB believes. Objective Software provides to more than 110 clients, which include accounts such as BMW, Delphi, Man, Intel, Bosch and others. VTBC reminds that Luxoft is targeting organic growth of its Automotive Vertical at 35% in the medium term, arguing that this potential is not fully priced in. The bank estimates the deal within the range of $10mn-$15mn and maintains a Buy recommendation on Luxoft with a target price of $43 per share for an estimated return of 14%. Luxoft's parent company Russian IBS IT Services recently announced plans to hold an IPO on Moscow Exchange . Unconfirmed reports earlier suggested that IBS will seek to raise up to $100mn. In 2013 IBS decided to spin off the international business and set up Luxoft that focuses on international clients, which held an $80mn IPO in May 2013. IBS deals with Russian clients. Today, Luxoft has a capitalisation of $1.45bn and is the number one international software company in many of its niches as well as holding a large share of the US automotive and aviation software markets, among others.
9.2.10 Utilities corporate news
Fitch Ratings has upgraded the outlook on Russia-based Inter RAO's long-term foreign-currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Positive from Stable, while affirming the rating at 'BBB-', the agency said on August 6. The revision of the outlook is supported by both the positive sovereign ratings of the Russian Federation (BBB-/Positive) and Inter RAO's standalone credit profile (SCP) of 'BBB-'. The company is seen as having "the strongest financial profile among Fitch-rated utilities in Russia and CIS, and emerging track record of consistent implementation of regulation in electricity generation that supports the predictability of cash flows." Inter RAO is one of the largest utility companies in Russia, comparing well with RusHydro hydropower holding (BBB-/Stable) by market position (including installed capacity and generation volumes) and being bigger than Mosenergo and Enel Russia. "Only Inter RAO and RusHydro are partially integrated among rated Russian generators, controlling several electricity retail companies," Fitch reminds.
114 RUSSIA Country Report September 2018 www.intellinews.com