Russian MinFin expects more state cos to tap market following DOM.RF IPO - Siluanov

MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax) - DOM.RF government housing corporation IPO revealed good appetite for investing in state companies and the Finance Ministry expects more government-related entities to tap the market following this offering, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said.

"We've no doubt this can truly be called a success, and this is a first step towards encouraging other still reticent companies to consider tapping the market, raising funds and participating in the financial market. We need this to show that state-owned companies are just as efficient, that they pay dividends and that they can be of interest to both our retail and institutional investors," Siluanov said at the launch of trading in DOM.RF shares on the Moscow Exchange on Thursday.

"Today's debut shows that there is appetite, good appetite for state-owned companies," Siluanov told reporters. He said he hoped the DOM.RF IPO "would break the ice, paving the way for other companies to enter markets, raise funds for their operations on the one hand and generate good returns for investors on the other."

Siluanov reiterated that it would be impossible to achieving the goal of increasing the Russian stock market's capitalization to 66% of GDP by 2030 unless state-owned companies go public.

"So we'll be encouraging our other organizations as well," he said.