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Tobacco Handler Eyes IPO

Tobacco distributor Megapolis is considering a London initial public offering this fall that could raise up to $1.5 billion.

Megapolis has been set a preliminary value of $8 billion, and the company might offer 25 to 30 percent of shares, including some owned by main shareholder Igor Kesayev, sources said Wednesday. Megapolis is the exclusive distributor for Japan Tobacco, Philip Morris and Imperial Tobacco in Russia, and is estimated to control just over 70 percent of the wholesale cigarette market.

Credit Suisse, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Renaissance Capital and Troika Dialog together with Sberbank are the IPO organizers. Megapolis also distributes Energizer batteries.

(Reuters)

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