Page 17 - bne magazine November 2021_20211104 uzbekistan risding

bne November 2021 Companies & Markets I 17
Slava Smolyaninov, head of strategy at BSC GM, in a note.
“Active Russia-dedicated funds enjoyed [their] best weekly inflows since pre-pandemic January 2020 as they registered a net weekly intake of $100mn,” Smolyaninov continued. “The largest inflows came into funds managed by Pictet followed by the VTB Russia fund and Sberbank fund focused on natural resources. These intakes easily outweighed outflows from ETFs led by $32mn out of the RSX ETF and even $5mn out of the levered Direxion Russia Bull 2x fund.”
Russia’s market is being lifted as well as inflows into global emerging market equity funds, which also saw a solid inflow of $1.5bn in the same week – the best since August – and have enjoyed positive inflows for nine weeks in a row now.
The retail investors are playing an increasingly important role in the ebb and flow of funds. MOEX published its retail investor statistics for September: retail inflow picked up to RUB35bn ($481mn), rising from the previous month's RUB28bn and coming in line with the YTD monthly average, Sberbank reports. That is $120mn a week equivalent, on a par with the international inflows of the last week, giving the market added momentum.
BCS GM reports that while there was a correction as investors took some profits, especially from the banking sector stocks,
Russian retail investors took advantage of the dip to buy into the weakness and start the ball rolling, only to be joined by international investors.
“Inspired by a powerful energy shortage in Europe, Retail bought into outflows from Russia and EM ETFs to propel the market higher. We see negative flow momentum building again, but we stay positive in the long run,” Smolyaninov said. “Retail en masse has been right to aggressively add to their net Long positions through September, enjoy the energy-driven rally and remain a buyer despite the market hitting new highs every other day and the worrisome technical picture signalling short-term overbought conditions. This differs from the more opportunistic behaviour typical of Retail in the past years, when they usually sold into such strong market upticks.”
Analysts are optimistic about the outlook for the rally to continue. October is when the traditional “Santa Rally” begins, as Russia’s equity market is prone to seasonal rallies caused by tax payments and fund allocations amongst major funds.
The Santa rally runs over the fourth and first quarters ahead of the dividend payment season in August and then sells off after the dividends are collected, only to start rallying again as the weather gets colder. New mandates issued at the start of the year by major funds also contribute to these rallies.
Russian car-sharing major Delimobil files
for listing in New York
East West Digital News in Moscow
Delimobil Holding SA, a Luxembourg-registered, Moscow-based car-sharing company, filed for listing on the New York Stock Exchange on October 8, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).
BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets and VTB Capital (VTBC) will act as joint lead book-running managers, while Banco Santander, Renaissance Securities and Sberbank CIB will be joint bookrunners, the company said, cited by Reuters.
A pioneer of the Russian car-sharing market since 2015, Delimobil now operates in Russia, as well as Czechia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, under the brands Delimobil, Anytime and Anytime Prime. Last year Delimobil’s Russian car-sharing business generated RUB5.3bn, with a net loss of RUB2.4bn (around $73mn and $33mn respectively at the average exchange rate of the year), according to Spark. Interfax data cited by the Russian media.
Delimobil has just become the car-sharing leader in Moscow city – ahead of traditional leader Yandex.Drive – with a
market share estimated at 41.5% this month, according to city government data cited by Bank of America. Other companies operating in Moscow include BelkaCar and Citidrive (formerly YouDrive, which Mail.ru Group took control of in 2019).
In July this year VTB Capital (VTBC), a division of the state bank VTB, paid $75mn to acquire a 15% stake in Delimobil, valuing the company at $500mn. Delimobil said it would use the fresh funding for further developments and a stronger position on the Russian market.
VTB Group had been a partner of Delimobil since 2019, providing leasing financing for the expansion of its vehicle fleet. Car-sharing (also spelt ‘carsharing’) consists in renting cars for short periods, often by the hour. The owner of the cars may be an operator or private individuals renting their own vehicle. Car-sharing should not be confused with ride- hailing (e.g. Uber) or car-pooling (e.g. BlaBlaCar).
This article first appeared in East-West Digital News (EWDN), a bne IntelliNews partner publication.
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