MOSCOW, July 15 (Reuters) - Russian healthcare provider European Medical Centre (EMC), which was valued at $1.1 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on Thursday, said it sees strong potential for growth as more wealthy Russians seek private healthcare. EMC has been offering healthcare through a network of medical centres in and around Moscow for over three decades and is the second private Russian healthcare provider to list shares after MD Medical Group nearly a decade ago. EMC offered 40 million global depository receipts at $12.50, or 926.55 roubles, apiece, which was at the lower end of its initial guidance and gave it a market value of $1.13 billion. The sale of existing shares raised about $500 million for EMC shareholders led by Igor Shilov and left the company with a free float of 44%. Shilov retained a 55.1% stake in EMC following the IPO, the company said. Boris Kvasov, co-head of equity capital markets at VTB Capital and one of the deal’s arrangers, said in a statement that domestic investors, some of which were EMC clients, as well as funds from Europe, the Middle East and Britain bought shares. EMC said it saw “strong potential for future growth” for the Russian private healthcare market amid increasing demand for high-end services from wealthy Russians and an ageing population coupled with rising life expectancies. It reported revenue last year of 21.3 billion roubles ($287 million) with a compound annual growth rate for 2018-2020 of 18%. EMC Chief Executive Andrey Yanovsky told Reuters that the company, which has invested about 440 million euros ($520 million) since 2008, did not have any immediate plans to offer new shares to raise cash. Chief Financial Officer Dmitry Shmelev also said that EMC intends to pay out up to 100% of its net profit in dividends. The Medsi chain of medical clinics may also go public at some point, its shareholder Sistema has said. EMC shares debuted at 940 roubles before dipping to 925 as the Russian stock market was hit by lower oil prices. Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and VTB Capital acted as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the deal. ($1 = 74.1523 roubles) ($1 = 0.8456 euros) (Reporting by Olga Popova and Alexander Marrow; Writing by Katya Golubkova; Editing by David Clarke)