Video game developer Nexters announced its “unfreezing” on the US stock exchange Nasdaq. Since March 16, operations with its securities — shares and warrants — have been resumed.
Recall that on March 1 last year, Nasdaq suspended trading in Nexters shares. The day before, the exchange stopped working with the securities of four Russian holdings: HeadHunter, Ozon, Qiwi and Yandex.
Most likely, Nasdaq at that time also considered Cyprus Nexters to be a company in any way related to Russian jurisdiction. Against the background of sanctions, this led to a halt in stock trading.
“Since we were founded in 2010, we have seen ourselves as an international company whose employees, partners and players live in all countries of the world,” Andrey Fadeev, co—founder and CEO of Nexters, said in connection with his return to the stock exchange.
According to him, the company has been working hard over the past year to get permission to return to Nasdaq again. In parallel, the company was engaged in significant corporate and structural changes.
Recall that in July 2022 it became known about the separation of the company’s businesses. The entire Russian business of Nexters was transferred to the ownership of local management, and critical personnel located in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus were to be transported to Cyprus, Armenia and other countries.
Then, in August, it became known that Ivan Tavrin, the former CEO of Megafon and owner of media holding Media-1, left the post of chairman of the Board of Directors and the company as a whole. Igor Bukhman and Boris Herzovsky also left the council.
However, the company has three new directors: Tal Shoham, former chief operating officer of ironSource, Marie Holive, who was responsible for auditing at General Electric for a long time, and Olga Loskutova, an experienced manager who worked at both Nestle and Whirlpool.
“We have achieved a lot in improving corporate governance and strategic sustainability during the crisis year, while maintaining the stability of the business as a whole,” Natasha Braginsky—Mounier, a member of the Nexters Board of Directors, said.
“We have demonstrated strict adherence to the high standards of Nasdaq and SEC,” she also stressed.
Before trading stopped last year, the company managed to work on the stock exchange for only about six months. Nexters went public on August 27, 2021. It was assumed that at the start, its market valuation would reach $ 1.9 billion. At the time of the trading halt, its capitalization was estimated at $ 1.25 billion.
By the way, last night it became known that Nasdaq intends to delist (completely remove shares from the stock market) HeadHunter, Ozon, Qiwi and Yandex. If the companies do not appeal the decision, it will be enforced on March 24.