Russian Companies Seek to Follow Rusal With Hong Kong IPOs, Medvedev Says

President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia wants to boost investment and trade with Hong Kong to give Russian companies more presence in the area and use it as a gateway to mainland China.

“We expect that by working with your stock exchange and Hong Kong we will get additional opportunities for working with China and a platform for cooperation with the Asia Pacific region,” Medvedev said yesterday as he visited the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. “Russia is part of the Asia Pacific, and it is very important for us to position ourselves in the right way.”

Medvedev, who has made efforts to diversify Russia’s economy from dependency on oil and gas the core of his presidential program, is seeking to broaden trade and investment with China. China, the world’s biggest energy consumer, became Russia’s top trading partner last year, with trade jumping 50 percent to $59 billion, according to the Russian Economy Ministry. Energy accounted for more than 55 percent of exports to China.

Russian companies are seeking share sales in Hong Kong following last year’s listing by Oleg Deripaska’s United Co. Rusal, including the Russian billionaire’s other company EuroSibEnergo, Medvedev said.

Power generator EuroSibEnergo Plc, which supplies electricity to Rusal, may hold an initial public offering next year, Deripaska said yesterday.

“Hong Kong is a unique platform for moving to the Asian market, not just China” but also Korea, Taiwan and Japan, Deripaska said.

Medvedev aide Arkady Dvorkovich said four or five companies are in talks with the Hong Kong exchange about possible listings, without elaborating.

Russian energy and commodities companies will seek to raise “billions of dollars” this year by selling stock in Hong Kong to take advantage of a market “characterized by high liquidity,” VTB Capital Plc President Yuri Solovyov told reporters yesterday.

Russian companies including Otkritie Financial Corp., billionaire Viktor Vekselberg’s Renova Group and renewable energy producer OAO RusHydro are considering Hong Kong IPOs, said an official in the Russian delegation who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak for the companies.