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bne Invest
June 7, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
Russia's finance ministry plans to attract foreign investment into mortgage bonds
Russia's finance ministry and the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) are developing mortgage bonds and count on solid demand from foreign investors for the instrument, Reuters reported on May 31 citing the Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moisseev.
"As the mortgage rates go down, the banks are facing balance limitations, first and foremost in terms of capital. Mortgage bonds could solve this problem," Moisseev said at a meeting of the Association of Russian Bank (ABR).
As bne IntelliNews reported, mortgages have exploded in Russia and the volume of housing loans has been doubling every two years for a decade, supported by state initiatives to make mortgages cheaper and more attractive than ever.
The new instrument would allow the securitisa- tion of mortgages and take it off the balance in the form of the bonds, potentially attracting both foreign and domestic investors, Moisseev said, reminding participants in the meeting of the "unprecedented inflow" of foreign investment into the Russian Ministry of Finance ruble- denominated OFZ treasury bills.
The share of foreign investors into the OFZ market increased to 29.4% as of May 28 2019, according to Reuters, gaining over 5pp year-on-year. "Why not distribute this demand to the mortgage bonds?" Moisseev asked.
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HeadHunter boosts results in 1Q19 after NASDAQ IPO
Leading Russian online job search portal Head- Hunter boosted revenues by 32% to RUB1.68bn ($26mn), the company said on June 4.
Adjusted Ebitda soared by 76% to RUB774mn, with net profit jumping by 185% to RUB373mn. The company will pay 75% of 2018 profit or RUB750mn in dividends.
HeadHunter carried out a successful IPO on NAS- DAQ, 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 day. As of June 3 HeadHunter's capitalisation stood at $857mn.
The offering was the first Russian IPO on NASDAQ since 2013, when another two digital majors
TCS banking group and Qiwi electronic payment system listed on the exchange. HeadHunter enjoyed high demand, with the book for the IPO oversubscribed more than 10-times, according
to Kommersant daily.
The shares of the HeadHunter were sold by Highworld Investments (59.99% of the shares), ELQ Investors VIII (investment 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.