Russia’s Global Ports to raise $750m in London
RUSSIA’S biggest freight terminal operator aims to list on the London Stock Exchange to raise up to $750m (£456m), it said yesterday.
Global Ports Investments, which operates terminals in Russia and Finland, intends to float 25 per cent of its issued share capital. It will list $100m of new shares and an unspecified amount of existing stock as global depositary receipts.
Analysts place Global Ports’ value at about $3bn, so the existing stock sale would raise about $650m on top of the new shares.
“We hold the number one position in Russian container handling and fuel oil exports and have strong capacity to accommodate expected market growth as well as the potential to expand our current terminal facilities,” chairman Nikita Mishin said.
Global Ports says it controls 30 per cent of Russia’s container ports market and exports 28 per cent of all fuel oil in the former Soviet Union. It is expecting to tap into demand for emerging markets infrastructure providers as economies such as Russia grow rapidly.
Its parent company, infrastructure group N-Trans, has listed two of its operations in London to date.