MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian technology company Astra on Friday said it had raised 3.5 billion roubles ($35.9 million) in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Moscow Exchange, pricing shares at the upper end of its range in a debut populated by retail investors.
Russian share listings have been thin on the ground since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and are generally characterised by small volumes and dependent on Russian investors after an exodus of Western capital.
“Total demand from investors exceeded supply by more than 20 times at the upper end of the price range, and the number of new investors in the share capital structure amounted to about 100,000 people,” Astra said in a statement.
Astra dominates Russia’s operating system (OS) market with its Astra Linux software. It offers a range of software solutions to Russian government entities and state companies, including those in critical infrastructure, many of which were deprived of access to Western technology after Russia started what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.
The company sharply increased its share of corporate clients to 70% in the first half of 2023, up from 28% in 2020.
Astra said it set the price at 333 roubles per share, corresponding to a market value of 69.9 billion roubles. The offering of 10.5 million shares corresponds to a free-float of 5%.
“The IPO allowed us to launch a long-term motivation programme for our employees,” CEO Ilya Sivtsev said in a statement. “They are the key driver of the group’s business growth.
“As of today, more than 1,400 of our employees have become Astra Group shareholders.”
Trading under the ASTR ticker on the Moscow Exchange should begin later on Friday.
($1 = 97.4875 roubles)
(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov, Olga Popova and Alexander Marrow; editing by David Evans and Sharon Singleton)
