Cian mulls SPO in a few years, raising free float to 50%

MOSCOW. Dec 16 (Interfax) - Russian online real estate marketplace Cian , which carried out an initial public offering in early November, might have a secondary public offering in a few years through the sale of shares held by private equity funds and its free float could increase to 50% from 25-28% at present, CEO Maxim Melnikov said in an interview with RBC.

Cian carried out its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange and Moscow Exchange at the upper end of the price range, $16 per ADS. The main component of the IPO was the secondary one, in which existing shareholders sold 14.17 million ADS. The company itself sold 4.04 million ADS.

"My partners in Cian are private equity funds, including Elbrus Capital, which became a shareholder in 2014. They have a fund lifespan, they will need to exit at some point, so an SPO is possible within several years. The portion of shares in free float is now 25-28%. I think that at some point more than 50% will be traded on the exchange," Melnikov said.

"We are now seeing that the liquidity [of Cian shares] on the market is fairly low. An SPO could increase the company's investment appeal. I think that in the medium term we will see an increase in the free float," Melnikov said.