Wabererʼs to fund Polish acquisition via EUR 50 mln IPO
Hungarian road haulage company Wabererʼs announced Tuesday that it plans to raise EUR 50 million in an initial public offering (IPO) of its shares to be listed on the Budapest Stock Exchange, according to Hungarian news agency MTI.
Confirming an FT report two weeks ago that it is preparing for a listing on the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) in July, Wabererʼs said it aims to use EUR 32 million of the fresh capital to acquire Polish peer Link and the rest for general purposes.
Wabererʼs signed an agreement to acquire Link in May. The Polish company has 427 trucks and 675 trailers, employing 956 people of whom three-quarters are truck drivers.
Wabererʼs majority owner, private equity fund Mid Europa Partners (MEP), will also sell its ordinary shares in the IPO, Wabererʼs said. MEP bought out the companyʼs founder György Wáberer last summer, raising its stake from 56.8% to 97.1%. Wáberer retired from his active role in the business to focus on his work as the prime ministerʼs commissioner for developments in the haulage and logistics sector.
Wabererʼs is the biggest haulier in Hungary with an average 3,549 lorries on the road last year. About 84% of those lorries were in international service.
Wabererʼs said free float after the IPO was expected to reach at least 50%. According to the earlier FT report, 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.
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