Russian e-commerce giant Ozon is eyeing a $5 billion valuation in one of the most hotly anticipated Russian stock market debuts in years, papers filed by the company in New York on Tuesday laid out, The Moscow Times reported.
The company said it would price shares in its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) in the range of $22.50-$27.50 each, giving the firm a valuation of between $4-4.9 billion. That is toward the top end of analysts’ estimates, first outlined when the firm confirmed its plans to IPO on the U.S.-based Nasdaq exchange at the beginning of November.
Ozon itself could rake in around $1 billion in cash from the IPO, which is expected to take place next week, Forbes Russia reported. The company has not confirmed the date of the listing.
It is set to be the largest and most eagerly-watched Russian launch in years, and cement Ozon’s position as one of the fastest growing Russian companies of recent decades. Only a handful of Russian companies have listed on global stock markets in recent years, as dealmaking crashed following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, the economic crisis of 2014-16 and the imposition of Western sanctions against Moscow.
In addition to the public offering, Ozon will also sell $135 million of additional shares to long-time investors, the private equity fund Baring Vostok and Sistema, a conglomerate controlled by billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov in a concurrent private offering. Shares in Sistema have surged to a six-year high in recent weeks as Ozon has edged closer to the IPO.
Combined with other convertible share options in play, insiders say the valuation could top $5.5 billion.
