Page 91 - RusRPTDec20

acquisition comes in addition to MTS’ announcement on Tuesday, 3 November, that it had bought 6,420,868 shares from Sistema Finance. As a reminder, under the buyback’s structure, the number of shares MTS acquires from Sistema on a monthly basis is based on the number of shares the company bought on the open market during the previous month pro-rata to Sistema's effective equity stake in MTS. We view the news as neutral for MTS, as the amount bought last week is broadly similar to previous weeks. We think the buyback program should continue to provide short-term support to MTS’ share price. Based on the average price for MTS shares last week, we estimate that the company spent c. RUB 474mn on last week’s buyback (on shares bought from the open market), or 3% of the RUB 15bn allocated for the program. MTS has spent c. RUB 13bn (87% of the RUB 15bn allocated) and purchased c. 38.5mn shares since the buyback began.
Russia’s largest mobile operator​ ​Mobile TeleSystems​ (MTS) announced another share buy back on November 27​. Bastion LLC, the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, recently acquired 60,640 MTS shares of Common Stock (including shares of Common Stock represented by ADSs) representing 0.003% of share capital issued by MTS. The shares were acquired under the Repurchase Plan announced on March 31, 2020.
Russia's​ M​ D Medical Group​ (MDMG) has applied for a listing on Moscow Exchange with the inclusion of its global depository receipts (GDRs) into the level 1 quotation list. ​The company's GDRs are currently traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE). As reported by bne IntelliNews, MDMG has most recently proposed a generous dividend and completed its expansion drive with the launch of the major Lapino-2 facility. The listing in Moscow will not require an issue of any new shares and will mean that the company’s existing GDRs can also be traded on Moex. "A Moscow listing would enable Russian retail investors to trade the stock," VTB Capital (VTBC) commented on November 3. Given its low trading volumes in London, VTBC analysts do not believe that this move bears any risk of liquidity dilution between venues and would be beneficial for the name’s overall liquidity. The focus of the investment case is currently on the dividend profile. For 2019 and 1H20, the payout was 50% and delivered a total yield of 7%, which VTBC sees as fully sustainable without leverage exceeding 1x net debt / Ebitda. The analysts maintain a Buy recommendation on the name.
Fortiana Holdings of Vladislav Sviblov, the main shareholder in Russian gold miner ​Highland Gold​, is extending the buyback offer to minority shareholders, ​after consolidating 93.69% in the company. As reported by ​bne IntelliNews,​ the analysts expect the gold prices will keep rising in the medium term, possibly ​triggering re-rating and high demand for Russian gold equity names​. The sector is undergoing consolidation, with Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich and partners previously ​selling 40.06% in HGM to Fortiana​. Since then, Fortiana has raised the share of the company in the gold miner will to
91 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ December 2020 www.intellinews.com