London-listed Russian hypermarket chain Lenta raises $150m for expansion
Russia's second biggest hypermarket chain Lenta has raised $150m (£97m) through the sale of new shares to fund its expansion, despite a tough economic backdrop at home.
The London-listed company, which has 122 hypermarkets in 63 cities across Russia and 27 supermarkets around Moscow, said it sold 21.1m new global depositary receipts (GDRs) through an accelerated bookbuilding at $7.10 each.
At the same time the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development sold 17.6m GDRs for about $125m, reducing its stake to 7.4 per cent from 11.5 per cent.
Lenta said it will use the proceeds to open 40 new hypermarkets next year, up from its previous goal of at least 32 stores.
Foreign investors are understood to have bought the majority of the offering, showing a strong appetite for the group at a time when sanctions, the Ukraine crisis and the weakness of the rouble has hit investor demand in Russian stocks.
The share sale is the second by Lenta this year after it raised $225m in March.