Kazakh payments firm Kaspi.kz announces London listing plans
Kazakh financial group Kaspi.kz today announced plans to list in London this year.
The offering will consist of a sale of existing shares in the form of global depository receipts by shareholders, Kaspi.kz said today.
Read more: London equity capital markets remain resilient despite uncertainties
The proposed listing is a boost to London’s stock market which has seen a quiet few months as companies grapple with uncertainty over the UK’s exit from the EU.
The number of initial public offerings (IPOs) slumped in the first six months of the year, with only 21 listings across both the main market and AIM compared to 41 between January and June last year.
The announcement follows confirmation from African telecoms firm Helios Towers last week that it is planning to float in London.
Kaspi.kz controls Kazakhstan’s third largest-lender Kaspi Bank and also runs online marketplace, payments and fintech platforms.
In the first half of 2019, its total revenue was 226.8bn Kazakhstan Tenge (£473m), representing year-on-year growth of 34 per cent from the first half of 2018, and its net income was 77bn Kazakhstan Tenge (£160.7m), representing year-on-year growth of 54 per cent from the first half of 2018.
Read more: Was the Aston Martin IPO a folly?
Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Global Markets and Credit Suisse Securities are acting as joint global coordinators for the offering and, along with Renaissance Capital, as joint bookrunners.
In June, train booking website Trainline floated 56.5 per cent of its business on the London Stock Exchange, valuing it at £1.68bn.
Other recent London listings include foreign exchange company Finablr which went public in May and luxury watch retailer Watches of Switzerland which joined the exchange in June.