Qiwi Plc, an instant-payment operator, is seeking to raise as much as $244 million selling shares on the Nasdaq Stock Market, the second initial public offering by a Russian company this year.
The company priced 12.5 million American depositary shares at $17 apiece, according to a statement issued yesterday. Shareholders, including billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s Mail.ru Group, are selling the stock and granted the underwriters of the sale options on 1.875 million securities. The deal was priced in the middle of the $16 to $18 per share offer range and trading is scheduled to start in New York today.
Qiwi, based in Nicosia, Cyprus, enables merchants to accept cash and electronic payments from as many as 65 million customers a month, according to the statement. The company runs 11 million so-called virtual wallets co-branded with Visa Inc. and operates cash-collecting terminals and kiosks. Revenue last year totaled $293 million, and profit attributable to shareholders amounted to $30 million, Qiwi said.
The payment operator is the second Russian company to hold an IPO this year after the Moscow Exchange raised 15 billion rubles in the biggest debut on a Russian bourse since 2007. Qiwi initially applied to raise $100 million before increasing the offering.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Credit Suisse Group SA acted as joint bookrunners for the offering, and Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc., Renaissance Capital, William Blair & Co. LLC were co- managers, according to the statement.
