Warsaw gears up for exchange IPO

The Polish Treasury Ministry has chosen four companies to manage the initial public offering of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, scheduled to take place in November.
By None

The Polish Treasury Ministry has chosen four companies to manage the initial public offering (IPO) of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE), scheduled to take place in November.

Investment banks Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase and UBS have been chosen to manage the sale. The Warsaw Stock Exchange had a total market capitalisation of €113 billion at the end of June, according to its own data.

Poland's only stock exchange, WSE currently has more than 500 companies trading on its main market and NewConnect platform, which is aimed at smaller issuers.

The sale is part of an effort by the Polish government to shore up budget deficits by raising 25 billion zloty (€6.1 billion) before 2011. The Polish government has sold stakes in insurance, energy, copper and coal mining companies this year.

Last year, Poland attempted to sell a majority stake in the exchange to several large exchange groups including NYSE Euronext, Deutsche Börse and the London Stock Exchange Group, but no purchase could be agreed.

The decision to pursue an IPO, which would see shares of the WSE listed on its own market, is a reversion to the original WSE privatisation plan put forward by the government in 2008. This plan was shelved after the onset of the global financial crisis.

The Polish Treasury Ministry has stated that November's IPO will involve Ipopema Securities, KBC Groep, Société Générale and PKO Bank Polski as bookrunners. Bank Ochrony Srodowiska, Alior Bank, Banco Espirito Santo, IDM and Wood & Co. will also help manage the IPO.

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