MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s largest children’s toy retailer Detsky Mir on Friday said its shareholders had agreed to restructure the business in the form of a spin-off, as part of a reorganisation that could see the company become private.
Detsky Mir’s free float exceeds 50%, according to Refinitiv data, and counts a host of Western funds and banks among its shareholders.
The company’s restructuring could set a precedent that other Russian firms with a large portion of foreign investors may seek to copy, as Western sanctions and Russian counter-measures have effectively frozen access to certain holdings.
Detsky Mir said 97.91% of votes cast by more than half its shareholders were in favour of the reorganisation. Turnout was 54.85%, above the more than 50% quorum required for the restructuring to be approved.
“Shareholders of Detsky Mir, who did not participate in voting on the reorganisation or voted “against”, will be entitled to demand redemption of their shares at a price of 71.50 roubles ($0.9962) per ordinary share,” Detsky Mir said.
Moscow-listed shares in Detsky Mir were down 1.9% as of 0843 GMT, underperforming the wider market. The company is aiming to become more flexible in a difficult environment, according to Tinkoff Investments analysts, with sanctions putting pressure on the economy, incomes falling and consumers spending less. Detsky Mir, a 75-year-old brand set up during the Soviet Union, shunned a London listing to stage a market debut on Moscow Exchange in February 2017, raising 21.1 billion roubles, which then equated to around $355 million.
($1 = 71.7750 roubles)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Olga Popova; editing by David Evans)
