Russia will see a string of stock floatations in the first half of 2010 as the government seeks to privatise stakes in state-owned assets, the head of Swiss bank UBS in Russia and the CIS said on October 21. "We have a big backlog of activity at the moment and are hiring in advance of that we will be very active in taking these companies public," UBS' Chief Executive for Russia Steve Meehan told Reuters Television.
He added that he expected a string of initial public offerings to take place in the first half of next year, and that foreign investors would be interested in taking part so long as more clarity is given regarding overseas shareholder rights.
"There needs to be a clear defining of the structure between Russian and foreign investors - what type of control they have, what type of shareholder rights exist," Meehan said.
"I think they've defined it well but it has changed a number of times - I think clearly defining and sticking to it would be important," he added. Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said last month he planned a new programme of privatisations following the country's first recession in a decade.
Meehan said he expected IPOs in the mining and oil & gas sectors first, but that more fledgling sectors including retail could follow.