CEE Equity

One of the last two substantial European IPOs of 2016 looks set to be completed on Friday, when RussNeft, one of Russia’s 10 largest oil companies, floats in Moscow for at least $495m.

MedLife, a leading Romanian private healthcare provider, has announced plans for the first IPO on the Bucharest Stock Exchange since 2014, as it seeks to capitalise on higher disposable income in the EU’s fastest growing economy.

RussNeft, the Russian oil company controlled by Mikhail Gutseriev, published today (Friday November 18) the price range for its IPO in Moscow, and opened the book at 10am Moscow time this morning.

The bounce in international equities since the election of Donald Trump as US president has led, as widely expected by market participants, to a wave of block trades this week, some of which were covered very quickly.

The bounce in international equities since the election of Donald Trump as US president was widely expected by market participants to lead to a round of block trades as sellers looked to take advantage of the favourable conditions.

Amid rough going for new IPOs this week, one of this year’s star IPO performers, Maisons du Monde, was back in the market on Wednesday night as the global coordinators waived the lock-up to let the leading shareholders make their first block trade in the stock. Thursday brought a substantial trade in Ferrexpo, which owns iron mines in Ukraine, which got done, though at a slightly reduced size.

Shares in ConvaTec, the UK medical supplies manufacturer, traded below issue price throughout Wednesday and closed flat, a day after the firm completed the largest IPO on the London Stock Exchange since Worldpay floated for £2.4bn in October 2015.

A flurry of follow-on equity sales this week, mostly block trades, showed that investors still want stock, sometimes at tight discounts, even while three IPOs had to be abandoned.

Russia gave more details on Wednesday of its plans to privatise stakes in state assets, including Rosneft, VTB Bank and shipping company Sovcomflot.

GE Capital has completed the first sell-down of shares in Moneta Money Bank, the Czech commercial lender, since its Ck20bn (€739m) Prague IPO in May.

Telenor sold $1.5bn of shares in VimpelCom, the Russian telecoms company, this week, in a combined equity placing and exchangeable bond that were well received, despite the Uzbek bribery scandal that engulfed both companies last year.

Trader Media East, the largest classified advertising firm in central and eastern Europe, has said it will carry out a seven-for-one share offering worth $88m net of expenses.