Investment bank Dragon Capital has successfully completed a
private placement for Davento PLC (Cyprus), raising $77.8m for a 12.3%
stake in the parent company of Ukrainian property developer VK
Development.
Dragon Capital acted as sole financial adviser and bookrunner to
Davento PLC in the transaction, which implied the sale of GDRs in
Davento and values the company at a market capitalization of $627.8m.
The money raised will go to finance the construction of nine retail
centers under the "Ekvator" brand, two warehousing complexes and to
buy land for new retail centers.
The sale of Davento GDRs, which were bought by 11 investment funds
and private investors from Europe and the United States, completes an
additional issuance of 12,634,000 GDRs made ahead of the placement at
a ratio of 500 GDRs per Davento share. The GDRs were placed at a price
of $6.161 and were admitted to trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
Mar. 17.
"Investors today are looking primarily at companies with a solid
track record and past experience of raising equity capital," said
Dragon Capital Director of Investment Banking Andrei Pivovarsky. "VK
Development is a company that meets these criteria and it has proven
its worth to investors. At a time when other developers are either
postponing their floatations or are seeing their shares lose value, VK
Development received a high valuation from investors, achieving a
P/NAV of 1."
In an earlier transaction, all investors who had bought shares in
VK Development at the November 2006 private placement were given the
opportunity to take part in a share swap, exchanging earlier purchased
shares for Davento GDRs. The swap provided investors with more liquid
securities and a listing on a foreign exchange (Frankfurt) as well as
exposure to a more diversified portfolio of development projects under
the larger company. Following the latest placement of Davento GDRs,
the company´s free float has risen to approximately 24%.
ABOUT DRAGON CAPITAL
Dragon Capital is Ukraine´s largest securities brokerage,
investment banking, private equity and asset management firm offering
a full range of services to institutional, corporate and private
clients. Established in 2000, the company is an independent
partnership controlled by management, with a minority stake held by
Goldman Sachs. Dragon Capital is the largest broker on the Ukrainian
stock market, with a 29% market share in 2007. The firm has completed
22 IPOs and private placements for Ukrainian companies since 2005,
raising $1.5bn. Dragon´s asset management arm has nearly $1bn under
management. Financial magazine Euromoney has recognized Dragon Capital
as the Best Equity House in Ukraine in 2002 and over 2004-07.
