Sistema, the largest private sector telecoms and consumer services company in Russia and the CIS, has launched an IPO to the tune of $1.56 billion. It is the largest Russian IPO to date and the largest IPO by an international company since the IPO of Orange SA in 2001.
The Russian corporate is selling 1,831,563 shares in the form of Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs) and is listing on the London Stock Exchange. Latham & Watkins advised on the deal with the firm's Moscow corporate team having acted on all of the last four Russian IPOs listed internationally. Latham's Moscow head Anya Goldin, commented: 'This listing cements Latham's lead position in Russia's growing equity capital markets. Not only have we acted on the largest Russian IPO to date, we have also acted on last three of the four NYSE listed Russian IPOs.'
The firm's Moscow team has acted on the market's major, most complex capital market offerings: in November 2004 Latham represented Mechel Steel Group OAO, a leading Russian steel and mining company, in its IPO of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on the New York Stock Exchange.
That deal was worth over $335 million and was the first Russian listing in the United States since February 2002, when Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods OJSC, another Latham client, completed its IPO on the NYSE.