IG Seismic Services is set to become the latest Russian company to float in London after the data analyst, chaired by a former first deputy governor of the resource-rich Komi Republic, announced a $200m (£124m) listing.
The company collects and analyses seismic data for oil and gas companies in Russia and the former Soviet republics using a variety of technologies.
The float, which will be in the form of global depositary receipts and is expected around the middle of next month, will value the 26.8% stake of chairman Nikolay Levitskiy at about $54m.
Levitsky set up Geotech Oil Services in 2006 and in 2010 received a further boost through an investment from Gennady Timchenko, an oil trader who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He later merged the business with the seismic unit of Integra Group to form IG Seismic.
Timchenko’s 13% stake in IG Seismic will be valued at about $26m — although with a reported fortune of $9.1bn he might not even notice. One of the world’s richest men, he began as a sales manager at a local oil refinery.
IG Seismic will not raise any new money in the proposed listing, but is keen to get a toehold in London, which gives it access to a huge pool of potential capital.
