Earlier this month Ulmart, Russia’s largest e-commerce company by market share, announced several new steps towards its planned IPO. JPMorgan and UBS have been appointed to prepare the operation, which may take place in spring next year, according to Ulmart chairman Dmitry Kostygin.
The online retailer is considering floating 15% of the company in the form of new shares on the London Stock Exchange, Kostygin told Russian business daily Vedomosti.
Prior to the initial public offering, Ulmart is considering selling a 10% stake in a private equity deal, based on a $1.5 billion valuation. A total of 10 investors have shown “serious” interest in the company and “a hundred are potentially ready,” said Kostygin, who personally owns a 30% stake.
Kostygin mentioned internet and e-commerce company Naspers and investment firm Tiger Global Management as interested players. Discussions are also being held with JD.com, the Chinese e-commerce giant with which Ulmart has just inked a major commercial agreement.
However, no deal with JD will take place, an unnamed source close to the discussions told Vedomosti, as the parties have quite different views on the terms of a potential transaction.
Kostygin hopes that Ulmart’s sales revenues will reach $1.3bn this year, up from $1.1bn last year – an honourable performance as the Russian e-commerce market is slowing down.
Ulmart founder Sergey Fedorinov told East-West Digital News in a recent interview: “While consumer electronics is dropping all across the market, the strategic decision we made over a year ago to begin aggressive expansion in new categories like DIY, auto, kid’s stuff and home items is proving to have made our electronics catalogue almost, in a sense, crisis-proof.”
Launched in 2008, Ulmart has developed a specific model with its own offline logistics and delivery directly integrated to the online storefront. The St. Petersburg-based company became market leader in Russia in 2013.
In 2014, the domestic e-commerce market grew by 35% in nominal terms, or some 15% in real terms, to RUB 560bn ($14.5bn at the average exchange rate) for physical goods only, not including up to $4bn for the cross-border segment, according to a recent report by East-West Digital News.
– A version of this story first appeared in East-West Digital News, the international source on Russian digital industries.