Russian toy-store launches $1 billion IPO in first Moscow float of the year

nvestors start to warm to Russia

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Shares in Russia’s top children’s goods retailer PAO Detsky Mir are set to start trading on the Moscow bourse on Friday, valuing the company at around a billion dollars in the country’s first big initial public offering since 2014 and the latest sign of renewed investor confidence in the sanctions-hit economy.
Detsky Mir said on Wednesday that the stock sale is priced at 85 rubles ($1.4) a share, valuing the company at around 62.8 billion rubles USDRUB, -0.1126%  .
The IPO is the first on the Moscow Stock Exchange this year and could prepare the ground for more listings after a fallow period following the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the crisis in Ukraine, which led to the U.S. and other western countries imposing sanctions on Moscow.
The collapse in the value of the ruble after sanctions were imposed and the slump in oil prices in the past two years have also weighed heavily on Russia’s economy. Detsky Mir had postponed its IPO a number of times.

In going ahead with the stock listing this week, the Russian retailer is taking advantage of the strong rebound in the Russian stock market. As the ruble strengthened last year, and with oil prices regaining some lost ground, Moscow’s dollar-denominated RTS Index rose 52%, making it one of the best-performing markets globally. The RTS is up 69% in the past 12 months.