Kristall set the price for placing shares within the IPO at the upper limit

Oversubscription for shares of Alcohol Group Crystal made it possible to set the placement price at the upper limit of the initial range – 9.5 rubles. for paper. But demand came mainly from retail investors, and oversubscription was noticeably behind many other recent IPOs. Analysts attribute the lack of interest from institutional investors to the company’s low overall capitalization and weak pre-marketing, while citizens “understand this business.” At the opening of secondary trading, experts say, the company can use the price support option to avoid a fall in quotes.

Crystal Alcohol Group (AGK, whose underlying asset is the Kaluga distillery of the same name) set the price for placing shares within the IPO at the upper limit of the initial range – 9.5 rubles. The placement volume amounted to 1.15 billion rubles, or slightly more than 13% of the capital. Capitalization did not exceed 9 billion rubles. Trading in Kristall shares will begin on the Moscow Exchange on February 22.

“The demand was high, most likely there was also oversubscription due to the fact that the issuer reduced the period for collecting applications (see “Kommersant” dated February 16),” says Andrey Petrov, director of client relations at BCS World of Investments.

A Kommersant source on the stock market says it was oversubscribed by 2.5 times, which looks like a modest result compared to other IPOs this and last year.

For example, when placing Sovcombank, “Diasoft” And “Astra Group” oversubscription was estimated at 10–30 times.

“The main demand was noted among retail investors; institutional investors showed little interest in the company,” said Evgeniy Shatov, partner at Capital Lab. Four portfolio managers managing equity funds confirmed to Kommersant that they did not participate in the IPO. “Issuers with capitalization below 30–50 billion rubles. are not of interest,” clarified Kommersant’s interlocutor at a large management company. “There is no particular point in holding 0.3% of the fund in shares,” added another Kommersant source on the market.

Igor Kozak, Managing Director for Investments at TKB Investment Partners, explains the low interest of institutional investors by the “lack of proper premarketing,” that is, meetings with the company’s top managers and analysts: “A successful IPO in a correcting market, taking into account the shortcomings in the placement, raises additional questions regarding the quality of the book and the placement format itself.”

High demand from retail investors could be facilitated by the company’s “understandable business,” analysts say. There are few alcohol producers on the Russian stock market, the company has ambitious plans for revenue growth – an average of 70% per year until 2026, the share of expected dividends from net profit – 80% from 2025, explains Sergei Suverov, investment strategist at Arikapital Management Company.

Dmitry Aleksandrov, head of the analytical research department at IVA Partners, believes that it is quite possible for quotes to rise after the start of trading, but this is “not fintech, not high-tech or IT, so we don’t expect a rally or highs.” At the same time, he draws attention to the fact that the company can take advantage of the option to maintain the price – in the amount of 15% of the IPO: “In theory, this can protect against drawdown if there are people willing to sell on the very first day.”

Ksenia Kulikova, Vitaly Gaidaev