The cross-border M&A activity of Russian companies abroad (in-out) remains fairly low. Only one acquisition by a Russian company of foreign assets worth $43 million hit the market in the third quarter of 2020. In the third quarter of 2019, Russian investors also acquired one asset worth $20 million, according to the latest issue of AK&M Information Agency's MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS MARKET monthly bulletin.
The only acquisition of a foreign asset by a Russian company was in the financial sector. In August, Freedom Finance, a Russian subsidiary of brokerage company Freedom Holding Corp., acquired 100% of the shares in Kazakhstan's Kassa Nova Bank from entities affiliated with Russian businessman Bulat Utemurtov.
The volume of foreign investors' transactions with Russian assets (out-in) saw a notable decline. Only four such transactions were registered in the third quarter of 2020 against 12 deals in July-August 2019. The total amount of foreign investors' acquisitions reached $771.1 million decreasing 3.74 times year-on-year (against $2.89 billion).
The largest acquisition of a Russian asset by a foreign investor in 3Q20 was in the retail segment: Sistema sold all shares of the Detsky Mir chain while leaving them free floating, with foreign investment funds on the buying side. The transaction amounted to $596.9 million.
More details on the M&A market results in the third quarter of 2020 are available in issue 271 of AK&M Information Agency's MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS MARKET monthly bulletin.
All bulletins of AK&M Information Agency are available on the AK&M Research Bulletin Store.
