MOSCOW, January 20. /TASS/. The Bank of Russia suggests enhancing transparency of public offerings of stocks, alter the content of information disclosed by issuers and adapt it to needs of retail investors, according to the report posted on the regulator’s website.
"The Russian equity market has its potential recovering on account of internal resources. The role of retail investors has increased. Confident environment strengthening and information openness of issuers are required to form long-term investments both in the period of company’s entry into the equity market and further on," the regulator said.
The Bank of Russia considers necessary to update requirements to the content of documents important for investors. This refers to the securities prospectus in the first instance. Forecast indicators of the issuer should be included in it, enabling investors to make balanced investment decisions. At the same time, the executive summary of the prospectus should be concise and clear and contain key data of the issuer: financial metrics compared to prior periods and a narrative of the strategy and development prospects.
Companies should also disclose information that is sensitive for investors, regarding planned and actual allocation of stocks among buyers. Investors should also understand conditions of protective measures applied. Information about presence of securities sales restrictions introduced by the issuer and current shareholders and about applied mechanisms to stabilize the stock price to reduce its volatility after an IPO.
The Bank of Russia also suggests discussing an opportunity of introducing regulation and standardization of services provided by offering arrangers. Participation of professionals is to improve quality of staged IPOs.
The regulator believes implementation of these initiatives will promote higher protection of interests of investors and growth of their confidence in the Russian stock market and expansion of IPO practice as an instrument to attract investments.