By Andrey Ostroukh

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – Moscow-listed developer Samolet Group is planning a secondary offering in 2023. New York will be its choice if it convinces investors that it’s a technology business and not just a building company.

After a three-year drought on the Russian initial public offering market, Samolet became the first non-state company to list shares in 2020, opening the way for a continued IPO drive https://www.reuters.com/business/russian-companies-prepare-new-ipo-surge-2021-10-08 next year.

Elistratov explained that the “optimal scenario”, or model for his business, was changing how people perceive his business as a developer of residential properties to property technology companies.

Elistratov said to Reuters, “And then we can conduct the SPO [secondary public offerings] in New York in 2023.”

Elistratov indicated that there are other options, including secondary listings on the Moscow Exchange. These have advantages over foreign listings such as higher chances of receiving bids.

Samolet is named after the Russian term for aircraft and expects that the listing will increase the free float from 10% to 30%-35% in spring 2023.

Samolet e-floated 5% shares in a Moscow IPO. The share price has risen nearly 400% since then, with the support of the financial results.

Samolet’s net earnings before interest taxes depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), rose 179%, to 21.6 billion rubles ($288.16 millions) during the first nine months 2021.

Elistratov stated that the company intends to increase its EBITDA by more than doubling it in 2023, compared with this year.

Russia’s number one developer, Samolet by land bank size, is Samolet.

It hires builders, but does not build houses. Instead, it focuses on creating eco-systems.

Elistratov explained that after studying the experience of other companies in Asia and Eastern Europe, Elistratov launched an enterprise resource planning system (ERP) to help manage hundreds of online projects.

The ERP system records how long a worker spent on a construction site, and whether the daily schedule was followed. Elistratov stated that drones fly over construction sites to scan and measure the work we have completed, and then compare it with models.

We have the know-how to implement the items that exist in high real estate grades, and in other economies in this segment.

($1 = 74.9575 roubles)