The FINANCIAL — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has on January 18 reduced its stake in Cyfrowy Polsat, Poland’s one of the leading media and telecommunications groups, by selling 50 per cent of its stake.
The partial sale reflects the company’s successful development and the Bank’s ongoing commitment to it.
The shares, representing 2.48 per cent of Cyfrowy Polsat’s total shares, were sold in an Accelerated Bookbuilt
Offering launched after the stock market close in Warsaw on 17 January 2017. The transaction was successfully completed at a small discount to the previous day’s closing price of PLN 25.65 on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
The shares were placed with domestic, regional and international institutional investors through Citi as the Sole Bookrunner and Berenberg as Co-manager. The EBRD has agreed to a lock-up of 90 days on the residual stake.
The EBRD originally acquired a stake in Polkomtel in 2011 as part of the company’s privatisation in a transaction which delivered value to Polish mobile phone customers, including the development of a nationwide high-speed LTE network. After the successful merger with Cyfrowy Polsat in 2014 and the integration of Midas in 2016 the company became the largest Polish TMT group with a unique product portfolio, according to EBRD.
Grzegorz Zieliński, EBRD Regional Director, Poland and the Baltic States, said: “The EBRD as an active minority shareholder has supported the transformation of Cyfrowy Polsat into Poland’s leading media and telecommunication company, creating a converged platform of media content with mobile assets unique in the region. We are very pleased with the results the management of Cyfrowy Polsat has achieved and see this as a sound basis for the company’s future development.”
Zygmunt Solorz, leading entrepreneur and architect of Cyfrowy Polsat’s transformation, commented: “I have appreciated the strong support of the EBRD over this significant period in the company’s history and we look forward to our further co-operation with the Bank as a leading shareholder.”
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