Russian office giant 01 Properties is preparing for a second attempt to list on the London Stock Exchange.
In his first UK interview, Dmitry Mints, the 31-year old chairman of the £1.9bn business, told EG that the firm would seek to launch on the LSE in spring 2014.
The group sought to list through a £270m offering last May, but pulled out after failing to attract enough buyers.
Mints said that another problem with the launch was the number of questions he had to fend off about corruption in Russia – something he does not believe is an issue.
“Some deals are done on a handshake and a memo that says, ‘We’ll sell, you buy, the price is the following’. This is something a lot of people from the West don’t understand,” Mints told EG.
The official reason for the failure to launch was “adverse market conditions”.
Mints would not rule out investing in London, but said he believed there was plenty of opportunity for growth in Moscow before the business moves West.
emily.wright@estatesgazette.com
