On October 27, 2006 URALSIB Capital held the conference “Means and Mechanisms to Increase Capitalization” devoted to the development of the utility sector in Russia. The conference took place in Marriott Royal Aurora Hotel in Moscow.

The conference was meant to provide investors with more information on the state of energy sector in Russia and, at the same time, to familiarize the issuers with investors’ demands, mechanisms of entering the market and ways to increase capitalization.

Representatives of utility companies – managers, accountants and IR specialists – took part in the conference. The participants exchanged opinions, discussed investment strategies, the efficiency of market instruments, shared international experience and listened to experts. Many participants admitted that thanks to the conference they received objective information.

Alexei Kachai, deputy head of the Strategic Department of UES Center for Reform Management, spoke at the conference. He commented on the large-scale investment program of UES, the company’s need for new capacity and stated that private investments are one of the basic ways to raise capital for the sector.

Alexei Bogdanchikov, IR director for Rosneft, tickled listeners’ fancy with a brilliant report on the recent successful IPO of Rosneft. Step by step, Bogdanchikov commented on what the company should and should not do when entering the market.

Gennaddii Margolit, deputy general director of the MICEX, gave a broader picture of Russian capital markets, offered examples of stock performance history on Russian trading floors, elaborated on the cooperation between Russian and London Stock exchanges and Russian market prospects.

Timerbulat Karimov, the managing director of Uralsib Capital equity market operations, gave his opinion on the stock market opportunities for Russian utility companies and suggested ways of cooperation between the companies and investment banks.

The conference round up with the report by Caius Rapanu, Uralsib Capital senior utilities analyst, who shared his experience on presenting the Russian utility sector for major international LT funds in his report “Per Aspera Ad Astra: value surge from USD200/MW to USD1000/MW, the voice of and analyst”.

Photos from the conference can be found here