Moscow: The Russia Direct Investment Fund, a Kremlin-backed private equity fund, is teaming up with Cartesian Capital Group LLC to boost its stake in the Micex-RTS Exchange ahead of the bourse’s share sale next year.
RDIF bought a 1.45 per cent holding from ZAO UniCredit Bank, a unit of Italy’s UniCredit SpA, while the New York-based firm founded by former AIG Capital Partners Inc president Peter Yu acquired 1.9 per cent, according to RDIF Chief Executive Officer Kirill Dmitriev.
The Kremlin established RDIF a year ago to help lure foreign investment in an effort to wean the world’s largest energy supplier off its dependence on commodity exports.
The deal is Cartesian’s first in a Russian company, Dmitriev said by phone yesterday.
Revenue at the exchange will “dramatically increase” as President Vladimir Putin’s government takes steps to develop the country’s financial markets, Dmitriev said.
“The expected initial public offering of the Micex-RTS exchange is going to be more successful and the operations of the Micex will be strengthened thanks to the expertise that Cartesian brings to the table,” he said.
The Moscow bourse, led since 2010 by former banker Ruben Aganbegyan, was created when the Micex Stock Exchange merged with the RTS Exchange in December, and offers stock, bond, currency and futures trading. The Micex-RTS will seek more than $1 billion in its IPO next year “when a market window is there,” Aganbegyan said in an April 17 interview in New York.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc., BlackRock Inc. and Templeton Asset Management Ltd. signed an accord with RDIF on June 21 to invest in Russian companies preparing for IPOs. While the deal with Cartesian isn’t part of this partnership, “future deals may come out” of it, Dmitriev said.
RDIF’s stake will increase to 2.7 per cent after the purchase, Dmitriev said. UniCredit is closing its securities unit in Russia and will cease to carry out cash-equity business for central and eastern European shares in New York and London, according to a statement in June.
