Successful sale reflects strong investor demand and signals continued interest in Polish stocks
The EBRD has sold 50 per cent of its stake in Grupa Azoty S.A., the leading Polish chemical group and Europe’s second largest manufacturer of mineral fertilizers and third largest producer of compound fertilizers.
The 2,850,000 shares represented 2.9 per cent of Grupa Azoty’s total shares and were sold in an accelerated bookbuild offering launched after the stock market close in Poland on June 27th 2017.
The transaction was successfully closed at a discount to yesterday’s close of PLN 69.52 and attracted strong interest from a mix of institutional investors both in Poland and internationally.
mBank and Societe Generale acted as Joint Bookrunners for the transaction.
The EBRD originally acquired a stake in Grupa Azoty in 2013 as part of the partial privatisation whereby the State Treasury offered around 12 per cent of the company in an accelerated bookbuild following the consolidation of Grupa Azoty with Grupa Pulawy.
Grzegorz Zieliński, EBRD Regional Director for Poland and the Baltics said: “The Bank, as an active minority shareholder, has supported the transformation of Grupa Azoty into a more integrated, market-oriented and efficient chemical manufacturer. The Bank continues to support the company with tailor-made debt financing and looks forward to further cooperation. We believe that the EBRD’s sale should benefit the local capital market by increasing the free float of Grupa Azoty’s shares and is further testimony to Poland’s attractiveness to institutional investors.”
Since the beginning of its operations in Poland in 1991, the EBRD has invested almost €8.5 billion in more than 380 projects in the country. The Bank invests in areas where demand for its products remains high, for instance the development of the local capital market. Under the EBRD’s new transition concept the Bank aims to promote the six transition qualities, defining successful and sustainable market economies as resilient, integrated, inclusive, green, well-governed and competitive.