Wirtualna Polska Holding SA, the owner of Poland’s largest web portal, plans to hold an initial public offering in Warsaw in the second quarter of 2015 to raise funds for acquisitions and debt repayment.
The company plans to sell as much as 100 million zloty ($27 million) of new shares, while private equity fund Innova Capital Sp. z o.o., which owns 68 percent of Wirtualna, plans to offer a further 23.5 percent stake, it said in an e-mailed statement on Monday.
The Polish IPO market has livened up in past weeks as stock prices climbed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and interest rates fell to record lows. Billionaire Leszek Czarnecki’s Idea Bank SA is holding an 864 million-zloty IPO and MCI Management SA is offering a stake in its asset-management unit Private Equity Managers SA this month. Polish property developer Atal SA and German car-parts manufacturer Uniwheels AG in March announced plans to sell shares in Warsaw in the second quarter.
“Wirtualna will give a unique exposure to the Polish Internet ad market among listed Polish companies,” Andrzej Knigawka, head of research at ING Securities SA in Warsaw, said by phone. “Along with the business’s improving profitability that should draw investors’ interest to the offering.”
Wirtualna, established in 1995 as Poland’s first Internet portal, wants to expand into e-commerce and financial products distribution, according to the statement. Its portals including its flagship wp.pl had 4.1 billion page views in December and 15.6 million of users, according to data from research company Megapanel PBI/Gemius.
Wirtualna’s revenue stood at 216.4 million zloty in 2014, including 201.8 million zloty from ad sales. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were 84.1 million zloty and pretax income was 38.4 million zloty.
Innova and MCI bought Wirtualna from Orange Polska SA for 383 million zloty in February 2014. MCI sees the total value of Wirtualna exceeding 1 billion zloty, according to the Warsaw-based fund’s presentation on March 10.
Pekao Investment Banking SA, UniCredit Bank AG, PKO Bank Polski SA and MBank SA will help manage Wirtualna’s offering.
