Russian IT services and security provider Softline raises $400M in London and Moscow IPOs, valuing the company at about $1.5B
Alexander Sazonov / Bloomberg :
Context & Ripple Effects
Nine days after Softline set a $7.50-$10.50 price range that valued it at up to $1.93B, the Russian IT services and security provider has closed its dual London-Moscow listing at roughly $1.5B — pricing inside the range but well short of the ceiling, with $400M banked.
The deal slots into a London lineage for security floats — Sophos' $1.6B UK IPO in 2015 and Darktrace's planned London listing at a reported $3B-$4B — while echoing Ozon's $990M US IPO as proof that Russian issuers can still reach Western public markets.
First-order effects
- Softline now trades on two exchanges simultaneously, holding $400M of new capital while carrying a valuation about $430M below the top of its own marketed range — a signal that demand cleared at the cautious end.
- London gains another security-sector listing to sit alongside Sophos and the pending Darktrace float, strengthening its pitch as the venue of choice for European cybersecurity IPOs.
Second-order effects
- Russian tech companies weighing exits now have a tested dual-venue template — Ozon went west via New York, Softline split between London and Moscow — pressuring bankers to package more CIS issuers for Western bookrunners.
- Public-market investors get a fresh listed comparable for valuing IT-security services firms just ahead of Darktrace's London debut, sharpening the pricing debate for the sector.
Third-order effects
- If the dual-listing pattern holds, Russian tech consolidates around structures deliberately straddling Western and Moscow venues — an architecture whose resilience is untested against the sanctions-driven financial separation Moscow is already building alternative systems around.
- A successful Softline float encourages more Russian growth-stage issuers to list abroad rather than wait for domestic depth, shifting where Russian tech's investor base — and eventual accountability — sits.
The trend: Russian technology companies are using dual foreign-and-domestic listings to access Western public capital while keeping a Moscow foothold, a window that carries rising geopolitical execution risk.