Delimobil Holding SA, a Luxembourg-registered, Moscow-based car-sharing company, filed for listing on the New York Stock Exchange on October 8, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).  

BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets and VTB Capital (VTBC) will act as joint lead book-running managers, while Banco Santander, Renaissance Securities and Sberbank CIB will be joint bookrunners, the company said, cited by Reuters.

A pioneer of the Russian car-sharing market since 2015, Delimobil now operates in Russia, as well as Czechia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, under the brands Delimobil, Anytime and Anytime Prime. Last year Delimobil’s Russian car-sharing business generated RUB5.3bn, with a net loss of RUB2.4bn (around $73mn and $33mn respectively at the average exchange rate of the year), according to Spark.Interfax data cited by the Russian media.

Delimobil has just become the car-sharing leader in Moscow city – ahead of traditional leader Yandex.Drive – with a market share estimated at 41.5% this month, according to city government data cited by Bank of America. Other companies operating in Moscow include BelkaCar and Citidrive (formerly YouDrive, which Mail.ru Group took control of in 2019).

In July this year VTB Capital (VTBC), a division of the state bank VTB, paid $75mn to acquire a 15% stake in Delimobil, valuing the company at $500mn. Delimobil said it would use the fresh funding for further developments and a stronger position on the Russian market.  

VTB Group had been a partner of Delimobil since 2019, providing leasing financing for the expansion of its vehicle fleet. Car-sharing (also spelt ‘carsharing’) consists in renting cars for short periods, often by the hour. The owner of the cars may be an operator or private individuals renting their own vehicle. Car-sharing should not be confused with ride-hailing (e.g. Uber) or car-pooling (e.g. BlaBlaCar).

This article first appeared in East-West Digital News (EWDN), a bne IntelliNews partner publication.