Monday in a press release European Bank for Reconstruction and Development announced that it reduced its capital share in the Żabka Group. The bank sold over 9.6 million shares as part of the company’s initial public offering (IPO), but retained a minority stake in it.
The topic of the sale of shares in the company was one of the main topics of the conversation between the new regional director of the EBRD for Poland and the Baltic countries with Polish journalists. Andreea Moraru said that in line with the EBRD’s capital strategy, the bank will gradually exit the company in the future, but there is no specific time frame for the sale of the remaining shares.
“We play our role…”
– Investing from our own resources gives us the flexibility to be a long-term, patient investor, with a longer investment horizon than typical commitment periods for private capital. We decided to gradually reduce our share in Żabka, but we do not have a specific time frame for the exit, she said.
– We fulfill our role as a capital investor – she added, pointing out that in accordance with the EBRD strategy, the bank has a capital presence in companies “for a specified period of time and when we feel that our role has been fulfilled, we look for various exit alternatives.”
The EBRD became a shareholder Żabk Groupand in 2017 with CVC Capital Partners.
Żabka’s IPO is a “very good signal for the market”
Appointed in July as the head of the EBRD for Poland and the Baltic countries Moraruwho took up the position in September, assessed Żabka’s entry on the Warsaw Stock Exchange as a “success”.
– It is a very good signal for the market that it has managed to attract so much interest in the current geopolitical context. This debut is one of the largest IPOs in the region, she emphasized.
– This is a very important transaction for the development of the capital market in Poland. The EBRD is a strong supporter of the development of the capital market. A few years ago, we cooperated with the Polish government on a development strategy capital marketto try to attract more capital to Poland and encourage companies to issue more financial instruments and bonds – she explained.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development was established in 1991 and its headquarters is in London. Initially, its mission was to support former socialist bloc countries in the transition to market economies. Currently, the EBRD implements development projects in over 36 countries.
The institution is one of the leading institutional investors in Poland. Since the beginning of its operations, the Bank has invested over EUR 13.9 billion in 515 projects in our country.