World Business

Polish insurer to launch huge IPO

By Pawel Kozlowski and Marta Waldoch (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-17 10:30

WARSAW - PZU SA, Poland's biggest insurer, will on April 20 start an initial public offering of at least 5.5 billion zloty ($1.9 billion) of shares, the biggest European IPO this year.

PZU plans to start trading around May 14. The Polish government and Dutch investor Eureko BV, selling a 30 percent stake, announce the maximum price for individual investors on April 19 and the final price April 29, according to a prospectus published on PZU's website today. They will complete taking orders for shares on April 29.

The offering is part of the government's plan to raise a record $10 billion from the sale of state assets this year to help finance the widening budget deficit. Poland also wants to sell stakes in its biggest energy, chemical and phone companies, as well as the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

The Warsaw Stock Exchange extended its rally this week, even after a plane crash on April 10 killed the country's president, Lech Kaczynski, the central bank governor and dozens of officials. Tauron Polska Energia SA, a state-owned power group, filed an IPO prospectus this year, seeking to go public by June.

PZU plans to pay out 25 percent to 45 percent of annual consolidated profit as dividends, according to the prospectus. It also plans to pay an additional 942.1 million zloty as a dividend from 2009 earnings.

Poland and Eureko set the minimum value for the entire company at 25 billion zloty, or 289.5 zloty a share, in an October agreement.

Bloomberg News