POLAND: Europe's biggest IPO a success, PZU's price up
12.05.2010, 11:29Shares in Poland's number one insurer PZU opened at PLN 349 on the first day of trading, which was some 12% higher than the issue price (PLN 312.5). Worth approximately PLN 8.1bn (EUR 2.1bn), PZU's stock market debut has been the largest ever Initial Public Offering on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the largest IPO in Europe since late 2007, and the biggest share offering in Europe's insurance sector in the past half decade, according to the Polish Ministry of Treasury.
The IPO attracted 251,000 individual investors; for around 140,000 of them it was their first investment in stocks. The Ministry of Treasury and PZU's Dutch minority shareholder Eureko together sold 29.9% of shares in the insurer. The percentage of domestic and foreign investors participating in the offer stood at 59% and 41%, respectively.
With assets totaling PLN 53.2bn at the end of last year and net earnings topping PLN 3.8bn, the PZU group is the largest insurer in the CEE region, dominating Poland's non-life and life insurance sector.
The successful floatation of the Polish insurance giant bodes well for other major privatizations the Polish government has in store in the coming months. The Treasury has just announced plans to sell a 53% stake in Poland's number two energy group Tauron on the WSE in exactly the same way PZU was privatized. According to earlier plans, only 25% of Tauron's equity were to be sold.