Russia’s leading investor relations consultancy hires former Moscow Exchange managing director to boost business development

Russia’s leading investor relations consultancy hires former Moscow Exchange managing director to boost business development
Russia's leading investors relations agency has hired a former top manager of the Moscow Exchange as CEO. Russia's PR market is worth $100mn today, but will grow to over $1bn in five years, according to EM / wiki
By bne IntelliNews April 14, 2021

EM, Russia’s leading communications and investor relations consultancy for clients in Russia, China and other emerging markets, announced the appointment of former Moscow Exchange executive  Anna Vasilenko as CEO.

One of the best known PR shops in Eastern Europe, EM has a long list of major Russian corporate clients and has acted as a communications bridge between the leading corporations and western investors and media.  

The founder and former CEO of the firm Tom Blackwell will move into the newly created role of chairman of the board.  

Vasilenko was the managing director for key clients and issuer relations at MOEX and her remit at EM is on business development and corporate growth. While at MOEX she has been credited with persuading top Russian firms for exclusive listing on the Russian market and promoting primary market trading and during her tenure many leading companies, including forestry group Segezha, online bank TCS Gorup, shipping company Sovkomflot and residential real estate developer Samolet all decided to exclusively list in Moscow.  

“EM is one of the standout success stories in the Russian market, so when Tom and the team approached me I was excited by the opportunity to continue working with top Russian corporates, including many I have known and advised for a number of years already,” Vasilenko said in a statement. “I’m delighted to be joining EM at such an important point in the agency’s development, and look forward to working with Tom and the rest of the management team to take EM to the next level.”

As part of the changes Blackwell will focus more on key client relations and strategy.  

“The changes we are announcing today represent the next step in the evolution of EM as we enter a new phase of growth. We have built a market-leading offering and an exceptional team of professionals at all levels of the business,” Blackwell said in a press release. “Today we see more opportunities in the market than ever before – from ESG to digitalisation as well as the introduction of new technologies in our own industry. With Anna as CEO we substantially expand and reinforce EM’s senior leadership capacity, positioning us perfectly to capture these opportunities. I have never been more excited about the future of EM, and look forward to working alongside Anna and the team to ensure EM continues leading the way for many years to come.”

The agency also expanded its leadership team responsible for execution of EM’s strategy. The team comprises eight senior professionals with decades of combined experience and deep expertise across EM’s core geographies and areas of strategic focus, EM said.  

“These moves will enable EM to broaden and deepen its client offering and capitalise on emerging opportunities and market trends amid the post-COVID economic recovery. EM aims to further strengthen its leadership in transaction communications and strategic counsel for Boards of Directors, CEOs and principals on strategic, crisis and change communications,” the agency said in a statement.   

The Leadership Team of EM consists of:  

Denis Denisov, Partner, Head of Russia/CIS

Anna Glikman, Partner, Head of Asia and Private Clients

Tom Kiehn, Partner, co-founder, Head of North America and Global Capital Markets

Maria Levitov, Partner, Global Head of Media

Peter Morley, Partner, Head of Europe

Sam VanDerlip, Partner, co-founder, Head of UK and Global IR

The firm is the market leader in Eastern Europe for corporates with ambitions to attract international investment and has been involved in the vast majority of the key transactions as issuers from the Russia/CIS region have tapped global capital markets to raise more than $10bn from the international capital markets.  

EM represented companies in several ground-breaking IPOs including: Russian hard discounter Fix Price (LSE) and the recent IPO of one of Russia’s big-three e-commerce firms Ozon.ru (NASDAQ) as well as the SPOs of Yandex, Aeroflot and M.Video, as well as number of major M&A deals.  

“EM’s best-in-class ESG practice has supported Russian corporates in developing best-practice sustainability communications, and the agency has also pioneered helping issuers tap into the fast-growing Russian retail investor base,” said Blackwell.  

The market for strategic and financial communications in Russia/CIS is currently worth $100-200mn, based on EM’s estimates, and could reach $1bn within five years at current forecast annual growth rates of 20%-30%, driven by the rapid emergence of the new economy across the region.

As head of Moscow Exchange’s Primary Markets team since 2013, Vasilenko was responsible for attracting equity and bond issuance from Russian corporates, helping to drive the Exchange’s development as a leading listing and trading venue for Russian equities. As well as overseeing the execution of numerous market development and client service initiatives, she also advised CEOs and owners of major businesses on a number of landmark transactions.

Before joining Moscow Exchange, Vasilenko worked for a number of years at investment banks including Credit Suisse and Renaissance Capital, specialising in structuring large transactions for Russian corporates and high net worth clients, and at LUKOIL supporting IR and capital markets activity.  

  

 

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