Russia's largest companies have until recently held their IPOs on foreign trading floors, in particular the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, which offer better flotation terms and simpler procedures.
"We are interested in increasing the number of placements within Russia. I believe that the Russian market has become mature for share offerings worth $1-3 billion," Andrei Sharonov said during a video link-up between the RIA Novosti press center in Moscow and the Russian information center in Beijing.
Russia's companies were placed third globally in terms of fundraising through IPOs in 2006, leading auditor Ernst & Young said earlier.
In its fourth annual survey of IPOs, Ernst & Young said that emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (the 'BRIC' countries) sharply increased the volume and number of their IPOs, attracting a total of $86 billion in 2006, compared with $29 billion in 2005. Chinese companies raised the largest amount ($56.6 billion) in 2006, followed by U.S. issuers ($34.1 billion) and Russian firms ($18 billion), the survey said.
Ernst & Young cited the example of Russia's state-controlled foreign trade bank Vneshtorgbank (VTB), which managed to raise $8 billion at its IPO in May.
About 150 Russian businesses intend to hold global offerings in the next two years, which could bring $30-50 billion in investment, the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX) said earlier.
