Kommersant learned about the terms of placement with brokers amid the wave of IPOs

“Kommersant” found out under what conditions brokers provide services for organizing the placement of shares against the backdrop of the current IPO boom in Russia. On average, we are talking about a fee of 1–6% of the placement volume, that is, in total up to 2.37 billion rubles, based on the volume of transactions in 2023. Companies strive to provide issuers with a full range of services. At the same time, the fairly high profitability of this work is accompanied by a number of risks for organizers at all stages of placement.

Kommersant asked brokers about the conditions under which they participate in organizing IPOs of Russian issuers. Thus, for Finam, the cost of an IPO is on average 4% of its volume, the value ranges from 1% to 6%. In another large brokerage company we are talking about 5–6%. Tinkoff asks for 4%, or from 15 million rubles, for IR support of the issuer.

Brokers provide a different range of services within the framework of IPOs. For example, BCS Global Markets (an investment bank within the BCS group) offers a full list (IPO, SPO, direct listing), including consulting at the preparation and marketing stage, syndicate coordination, services for the sale of shares to institutional and retail investors, analytical coverage before and after IPO, stabilization and market making agent services.

“Tsifra Broker” provides preparation of issue and other documents necessary for a public company, organization of placement, marketing promotion, organization of sales, technical placement, consulting in the field of information disclosure.

According to independent analyst Andrei Barhota, due to the fact that “the high interest rate zone will be longer and more severe in 2024,” we can expect an increase in the volume of IPOs by 1.5–3.5 times year on year. This year, placements have already taken place of Delimobil for 4.2 billion rubles, Diasoft for 4.1 billion rubles, and Kristall for 1.2 billion rubles.

According to experts and market participants, MTS Bank is expected with a forecast of 5–10 billion rubles, agricultural and food industry enterprises in general for 10–15 billion rubles, IT and media industries for 5–10 billion rubles, chemical and fertilizers for 10–15 billion rubles, precious metals for 10–15 billion rubles, development for 10–15 billion rubles. and the service sector by 5–10 billion rubles.

Meanwhile, the sphere of organizing an IPO is not without risks for brokers, market participants say. IVA Partners, in particular, notes that risks may be associated “both with the immaturity of the issuer, for example, in terms of internal corporate procedures, and with the instability of the market situation.”

For Sovcombank, “the experience of recent transactions has shown that significant risks lie in the mechanism of pricing and distribution (allocation) of shares among investors: how to set a transaction price that would suit both the issuer and investors and would not lead to increased volatility after the start of trading.”

Tsifra Broker lists the risks as incorrect timing of the transaction, discrepancy between the valuation of shares and the current market, and low demand.

Meanwhile, BCS emphasizes that the main risks within the framework of transactions are still borne by the issuer itself and investors. “Our task as an organizer is to protect both parties, select the most suitable placement method, build correct interaction between the participants in the process (Central Bank, stock exchange, analysts, brokers, investors) and ensure a fair assessment of the company during placement,” they note.

Ksenia Kulikova