IPO News

We have recently discussed a lot the possibility of an initial public offering for Yandex , the major Russian search engine and provider of various internet services. Initially Yandex was planning an IPO on NASDAQ for some time this fall - yet we suggested that it was not actually wise with the negative reaction to the conflict between Georgia and Russia.

The opinion that the background was not quite suitable for the IPO was confirmed by an investment fund close to many internet companies in Russia: they mentioned Yandex would postpone IPO for 2009. I immediately felt relieved but this was not an official confirmation so the intrigue was still there.

Now we have yet another proof that we won't see Yandex going public this year - reported by one of the most reputable Russian newspapers Kommersant. The newspaper spoke to a source close to shareholders and according to this source the decision now is to postpone the IPO for an unknown period of time because of the international financial crisis. This information was also confirmed by Kommersant sources in two investment banks familiar with the IPO plans.

In theory the company can still go public until the 12th of May, 2009 even with the current audited financial statement (it has 6 months to do so) but the market analysts insist that if the Russian internet giant intends to achieve the planned valuation of $3 billion, they should further delay the IPO until 2010.

Of course the Russian media is still waiting for any official statement in relation to IPO from Yandex but the existing proof already looks like substantial enough to believe the company will be wise enough not to risk its valuation in the current situation