Compensation to SMEs placing shares on exchange tops 420 mln rubles in 2022 - Russian Economic Development Ministry

MOSCOW. Jan 9 (Interfax) - Twenty-five small and medium enterprises (SMEs) received Economic Development Ministry subsidies to cover part of the cost of the issue of shares and bonds and fulfillment of coupon payments in 2022, with total compensation exceeding 420 million rubles, the ministry said in a statement.

According to the Ministry and the Moscow Exchange, subsidies were mainly allocated to bond issuers, with most of the subsidized enterprises being members of the growth sector of the Moscow Exchange, created for the circulation of shares of small and medium-sized businesses. This allows participating companies to receive support under state programs from development institutions - the SME Corporation and SME Bank. At the moment, 50 securities of companies from various sectors of the Russian economy circulate in the growth sector.

"Support from the Economic Development Ministry in terms of subsidies of part of SME expenditures on entry into the exchange and coupon payments on bonds significantly boosts the accessibility of exchange instruments for such companies. In 2022, 15 SME issuers in the growth sector of the Moscow Exchange placed bonds and raised financing totaling 5.5 billion rubles. Since the creation of the growth sector in 2019, the total volume of SME bond placements has come to 23 billion rubles," Vladimir Gusakov, Managing Director for Issuer and Government Relations at Moscow Exchange, was cited as saying in the statement.

According to Inna Dadayan, director of the Ministry's Department for Investment Policy and SME Development, this support measure will continue to operate in 2023.

"With the launch of this support measure we have seen a steady increase in the number of SMEs using the stock exchange to secure investment. The number of supported issues increased from 7 issues totaling 1.89 billion in 2019 to 45 issues totaling 10.5 billion rubles in 2022. The range of instruments used by SMEs is also expanding, in 2022 for the first time a subsidy was issued for the issue of shares," Dadayan also said.

Compensation of costs has allowed enterprises to direct additional funds to development, including towards import substitution.