Mid Europa Partners (MEP), an independent private equity fund focused on Central and Eastern Europe that owns a 97.1% stake in the company, has appointed bankers to prepare the IPO. Citibank has been appointed to lead the IPO, along with Erste, Berenberg and Renaissance Partners. An announcement is expected within weeks, although MEP has declined to comment.
The FT notes that the IPO would be the biggest public listing in Hungary for a decade, and that it would prove “a test for the governmentʼs efforts to reinvigorate the market for domestic investors.”
According to the business daily, Wabererʼs is expected to have a market capitalization of more than EUR 500 million when it begins trading in Hungary, and is expected to be the fifth largest company listed on the BSE, after oil and gas company MOL, OTP Bank, Gedeon Richter and Magyar Telekom.
Wabererʼs listed its shares on the BSE in 2015, but postponed the commencement of trading because of the unfavorable international environment.
On June 23, 2016, the company suspended the initial public offering for its shares and requested they be delisted from the exchange. Founder György Wáberer sold his stake to MEP a day earlier, raising the latterʼs holding from 56.8% to 97.1%.
Revenues of Wabererʼs International reached EUR 572.4 mln in 2016, rising 9.5% from 2015, the company said on Friday, according to MTI.
EBITDA rose by 12.1% to EUR 73.6 mln. The company noted the good performance of the regional contracted logistics division, where revenue rose by 10.9%.
Wabererʼs increased its truck fleet by 3% last year, and the fleet now consists of 3,550 vehicles with an average age of about two years. The total number of employees is 6,500.
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
