One of Russia's largest shoe producers and retailers Obuv Rossii (Shoes of Russia) raised RUB6bn ($105mn) in an IPO on Moscow's stock exchange, the company said on October 20.

The IPO demonstrates that the Russian equity market is alive and well and not reserved for energy and industry heavyweights. Previously the company tried to organise a public offering in 2013, but never followed through due to poor market conditions.

However, the amount raised by Obuv Rossii was below its expectations: the guidance was set at RUB140 to RUB170 per share or a total of RUB6.5bn to RUB7.9bn.

The company sold the shares at the lower band of the guidance at RUB140, bringing its free float to about 40% and having an expected market capitalisation of RUB15.8bn.

The company had a small setback in August when it reported its first ever fall in retail sales in January-June 2017, thanks to a colder summer than usual that hurt the entire country (although total revenue was still up 1.6%, thanks to significant growth in the company’s wholesale operations).

"We are in a sweet spot right now," company's founder and CEO Anton Titov told bne IntelliNews in an exclusive interview in September. Despite the setback he argued that as lease rates are low and the competition is weak, now "is the time to invest into the shoe business".

Titov will remain the major shareholder of Obuv Rossii after the IPO, and the funds raised will be used to expand the retail chain, develop distribution channels and be used on other general corporate purposes.

Renaissance Capital, BCS Global Markets, Citigroup and Sberbank CIB acted as global coordinators and joint book-runners of the IPO.

It was previously reported that Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov owns about 25% of the company and, given his ongoing sale of Russia's assets, it is possible that part of his stake would be offered during the IPO.

In 2014, Obuv bought rival Rossita adding 83 stores to its network and it is expected that there will be more of these deals in the pipeline over the coming years. Currently, Obuv Rossi has more than 500 stores across Russia.