Head of Softline - RBC: "Zoom, Teams are two new countries on the map"

In early November, Softline became the first public Russian classic it company. What are the risks of partnership with MICROSOFT and where will the money from the IPO go,

In early November, one of the largest Russian IT companies, Softline, placed its global depositary receipts (GDRs) on the London Stock Exchange. The company raised $400 million for development, another $58.2 million was received by its shareholders who decided to sell part of their shares - Softline founder Igor Borovikov, as well as Da Vinchi and Zubr Capital funds.

Softline was founded in 1993 and initially focused on selling software licenses, primarily to Microsoft. In addition to this company, the list of major partners also includes Adobe, Amazon Web Services (AWS), APPLE, Cisco, Dell Technologies, GOOGLE, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, HP, IBM and Oracle. Now Softline operates in 53 countries, including India, Brazil, Malaysia, Vietnam, Colombia, and others. The headquarters is located in London.

Softline is the first classical IT company from RUSSIA to go public. For the first time, Igor Borovikov announced plans to hold an IPO back in 2007, but the placement was postponed several times due to financial crises. In an interview with RBC, Igor Borovikov told why Softline was so stubbornly striving to enter the stock exchange, what the raised money would be used for, and also about the effect of the Russian authorities' policy on import substitution.

“We considered the status of a public company as an advantage”

— Are you satisfied with how the IPO went?

- Highly. On the one hand, now the market is positive, but this positive is much less than it was at the beginning of the year or even earlier. Investors do not invest in any IT company, they study the details, evaluate growth prospects. We have put together a balanced book, many long-term investors who have previously invested in our competitors who understand this market. Basically, these are large and medium-sized international funds. We also see good demand from Russian retailers.