TCS Bank selects organizers for $500-mln IPO - source
MOSCOW. June 18 (Interfax) - Tinkoff Credit Systems (TCS Bank), a leading Russian online financial services provider, has selected five banks to organize an IPO, a financial market source told Interfax.
The five are Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Sberbank CIB and Renaissance Capital, the source said.
The bank could hit the stock exchange as early as this November, "but the preparations involve several technical procedures and [the bank] will have to try and be ready by November," the source said.
The bank plans as a result to raise around $500 million, the source said. Portfolio investors and the bank's founder, Oleg Tinkov, may sell shares.
"There are already preliminary valuations of the bank, but they range from $2.5 billion to $4 billion. These are very high multiples with respect to the bank's equity. But TCS positions itself not only as a bank but also an IT company," the source said.
Oleg Tinkov said in December that TCS Bank would be technically prepared for an IPO in the third quarter of 2013, but a decision to go ahead with an offering would depend on the markets situation and the bank's needs for capital. "We're thinking of an IPO, we're IPO-ready right now, but that doesn't necessarily mean we will do one. We're moving in this direction. Technically we'll be totally ready in the third quarter of next year from the point of view of being ready to get down to this," Tinkov said. Any IPO would take place in London and Moscow, he said.
TCS Bank was established in 2006 by Tinkov to provide remote customer services in the credit card market. In mid-2007 the bank began issuing credit cards. Later it began to accept retail deposits.
The bank was Russia's 63rd largest by assets, according to the Interfax-100 ranking at the end of Q1 2013.
Horizon Capital bought 4% of TCS for $40 million in October last year. Oleg Tinkov sold 2% and reduced his stake to 61%. Prior to the deal, Baring Vostok Private Equity owned 8% of TCS, Goldman Sachs - 12.83% and Vostok Nafta - 13.32%.
