Russia's MICEX and RTS stock exchanges, which signed a merger agreement on Wednesday, may hold an initial public offering (IPO) in late 2012 or early 2013 as a single Russian exchange to raise at least $300 million, MICEX President Ruben Aganbegyan said.
"The IPO forms and details will be defined later. The planned IPO minimum is $300 million," Aganbegyan said at a joint news conference with Sergei Shvetsov, deputy head of Russia's Central Bank, which is the largest shareholder in the merged exchange.
The Central Bank of Russia intends to use its votes to elect independent directors to the unified exchange's board of directors six months before the planned IPO, Shvetsov said.
The Central Bank may give up its membership in the merged exchange's board of directors "if this is necessary for a successful IPO," Shvetsov said.
The MICEX and RTS signed a long-awaited agreement on Wednesday to create a single Russian trading platform for equities, derivatives, and financial instruments, as well as providing for considerable commodity trading.
Under a deal agreed in February, the MICEX will buy out shares from five major RTS shareholders - Renaissance Capital, Aton, Alfa-Bank, Troika Dialog and Da Vinci Capital and will eventually buy stakes from other RTS shareholders.
The deal for the MICEX to buy out the rival RTS is in line with Russian government plans to increase Moscow's prominence as a financial center.
The ruble denominated MICEX currently accounts for about 80 percent of equities trading in Russia, with the internationally better known, and dollar denominated RTS accounting for the rest.
