CEE Equity

Three new retail listings this week marked the renaissance of Turkey's IPO market. But if trying to do three similar deals simultaneously wasn't hard enough work, they come just as the country's economic prospects and the part it plays in the Syrian conflict are of growing concern for investors, writes Sam Kerr.

Equity investor sentiment on Russia has been upended in the space of a weekend after the shock release from the US Treasury on Friday imposing a fresh set of sanctions on Russia which has torpedoed the fortunes of aluminium producer EN+ and its owner Oleg Deripaska.

Shares in EN+ Group, the Russian power and metals company controlled by Oleg Deripaska, sold off 20% on Friday afternoon after the company was named on a detailed new sanctions list by the US government.

Three new Russian equity capital markets deals were launched this week, with bankers confident that European equity investors are comfortable enough to buy Russian risk despite diplomatic tensions between the country and the West growing more hostile.

Cherkizovo Group, Russia’s largest meat producer, has launched a $300m-plus secondary public offering on the Moscow Exchange to boost liquidity in its stock and raise funds for acquisitions and debt repayment.

Many equity investors are still keen on Russian equities, despite the growing political tension between the country and the UK.

Oleg Deripaska is to step down from his role as president of EN+, the Russian aluminium and hydropower company, which floated for $1.5bn in London and Moscow in November, and as president of its affiliate Rusal, as part of a pre-planned organisational change in which he will shift focus to other business interests.

The two Turkish IPOs priced this year are trading roughly in-line with their listing prices, despite recent outflows from emerging market ECM. But it is too early to judge whether this represents a positive outlook for Turkish ECM this year, according to sources.

MLP Care, the Turkish company that owns the Medical Park chain of private hospitals, priced its IPO on Tuesday after extending the bookbuild and slashing the price range.

Enerjisa, the Turkish utilities company owned by E.On and Sabanci, has attracted sizeable interest for its IPO, which was covered 4.8 times and priced at the bottom of the range.

Some of the wealthiest and most influential businesspeople in the Russian Federation received an expected, but still unpleasant, piece of news on Monday with the publication of a US Treasury Department list that is expected to precede new sanctions, write Sam Kerr and Bianca Boorer.

Equity investors seem to be shrugging off the geopolitical tension surrounding Turkey, which is fortunate for a pipeline of Turkish IPOs, but there are risks if relations with the US worsen further, writes Sam Kerr.