USM sells 7.4% of Mail.ru for $34.25 per GDR, raises $532 mln
MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - USM Group, controlled by Alisher Usmanov, has completed placement of 7.4% of the stock in Internet company Mail.ru Group (15.538 million GDR) at $34.25 per receipt, Morgan Stanley, the book-runner for the placement, has reported.
The placement price corresponds to the low end of the narrowed pricing range of from $34.25-$35.00 per GDR. This represents a discount of 6.4% off the Wednesday closing price on the London Stock Exchange. The GDR fell 9.6% to $33.8 on the LE by 2:22 p.m. Moscow time.
Ardoe Finance, Ltd., a USM Group subsidiary, raised $532 million selling the stock.
Analysts and participants thought that the sale of Mail.ru shares might be connected with the need for Usmanov to quickly borrow financial resources, possibly to acquire a stake in VKontakte.
Ardoe pledges not to sell any more Mail.ru shares for six months after the deal.
USM has faith in Mail.ru, holds the Russia Internet market in very high regard and does not intend to lower its stake after the lock up, USM representative Yelena Martynova told Interfax.
USM Group controlled 25.3% issued shares and 60.6% voting shares in Mail.ru - 32.66% via New Media and Technology Investment (NMT) and 27.96% via Ardoe - prior to the sale. The overall stakes fall to 17.9% and 58.1% after the deal.
Selling the GDR in an accelerated book build will enable Ardoe to quickly raise funds by as early Friday, Otkritie Capital analyst Alexander Vengranovich said. The fact that Ardoe did not wait to get dividends on the shares also points to the urgency of the deal, he said.
Usmanov might be gathering resources to buy a stake in VKontakte, Vengranovich said.
Mail.ru owns 39.9% of VKontakte and had long held unsuccessful negotiations to increase its stake in the social network, but the situation changed at the end of last year, when Usmanov said he wanted to acquire VKontakte himself. The deal could take place this year, he said.
The social network is controlled by its founders. JP Morgan said in research report last August that more than 60% of VKontakte is held by the Mirilashvili family (about 40%), chief executive Pavel Durov (12%) and financial director Lev Leviev (8%).
Earlier for a further increase in Mail.ru's stake in VKontakte, the social network's founders valued it at $2.75 billion, according to unofficial reports. Analysts, including at Morgan Stanley, believe the fair price of VKontakte does not exceed $2 billion.
VKontakte has more than 42 million active users. LLC V Kontakte is wholly owned by Cyprus-based VK.Com Holdings Ltd., according to the SPARK-Interfax database.
