Russia's Yandex could raise $500 million to $1 billion in autumn IPO - source
05.21.08, 6:10 AM ET
MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - Leading Russian search engine Yandex could raise $500 million to $1 billion via an initial public offering (IPO) on the Nasdaq exchange this autumn, a source in banking industry sources told Interfax.
The source added that Morgan Stanley (nyse: MS - news - people ), Deutsche Bank (nyse: DB - news - people ) and Renaissance Capital will organize the listing and that the company would likely achieve a total market capitalization of around $3 billion.
Yandex achieved 2007 sales of $166.9 million, up 130 percent from 2006.
Earlier, an industry source told Russia's Vedomosti daily that Yandex wants to raise $1.5 to $2.0 billion with the listing, giving the company a total market capitalisation of about $5 billion.
However, the banking source told Interfax it is unlikely that the market would assign such a high valuation to the company.
Yandex's founders hold a 30 percent stake in the company, while managers and other minority stakeholders own another 20 percent.
Together Baring Vostok Capital Partners and ru-Net Holdings also hold more than 30 percent of the company, while Tiger Technologies fund owns a 15 percent stake.
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