The billion-dollar London initial public offering of Russian mobile phone giant MegaFon suffered a blow Oct. 9 as Goldman Sachs pulled out as the lead investment bank over reported governance concerns.
Citigate Dewe Rogerson’s London and Moscow operations are supporting PR for Megafon, which is controlled by Russia’s wealthiest individual, Alisher Usmanov.
The Financial Times reported that Goldman has bailed as adviser to the offering after comments by Usmanov about plans to restructure his assets, which include the Arsenal soccer team and Russian steel interests.
Forbes pegs Usmanov’s worth at $18.1B, listing his profession as oligarch.
In an Oct. 9 statement released overseas, MegaFon’s CEO Ivan Tavrin said the share offering would proceed in the fourth quarter. “This is the right time for our IPO,” he said.
The company did not outline a price or size of the offering but Reuters pegged estimates from $2-3B.
MegaFon, Russia’s No. 2 mobile phone company with a market share of about 27%, said its shares would be listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Citigate executive VP Chris Barrie leads a financial practice team from London for MegaFon. Dmitry Manakov, managing director, is on the account from Citigate/Moscow.
Citigate is part of Huntsworth.