Astra Group announced an SPO – Kommersant

Software manufacturer Astra announced an SPO on the Moscow Exchange. Within its framework, no more than 21 million ordinary shares of the company will be offered, according to its press release.

The main shareholder of the group, Denis Frolov, will offer a package of ordinary shares belonging to him in the amount of 10.5 million pieces, but not more than 21 million pieces (from 5% to 10% of the total number of shares of the company). A sale of 5% or more will allow you to qualify for inclusion in the first level of the Moscow Exchange listing, 10% of shares will qualify for entry into the exchange index, which will expand the circle of potential investors.

The SPO price will be set after the order book is formed, but it will not exceed 620 rubles. per share. The collection of applications for participation will last from April 15 to April 18, but can be completed ahead of schedule by decision of the selling shareholder. “It is expected that as a result of the SPO, the group’s free-float may increase to 15%. The final size of free-float will depend on the number of shares sold as part of the SPO,” the company added.

The Astra Group is a large Russian developer of OS and infrastructure software for import substitution of Microsoft, IBM, and Citrix products. In October 2023 the company announced about the start of collecting applications for 10.5 million shares (5% of capital) and closed the book with more than 20-fold oversubscription. Stock posted at the upper limit of the initial range – 333 rubles, the placement volume amounted to 3.5 billion rubles, and the company itself was valued at 70 billion rubles. In November, the group’s CEO Ilya Sivtsev statedthat it could hold an SPO in the next two years. At the end of 2023, the company’s revenue according to IFRS grew by 77% in annual terms, to 9.5 billion rubles, net profit – by 18%, to 3.6 billion rubles.

Laura Keffer