CVC mulls listing Polish convenience store chain Zabka

Private equity fund CVC Capital Partners may float one of Poland’s biggest convenience store chains, Zabka, on the stock market, a fund partner was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

“We could be thinking about exiting this investment but a lot depends on the condition of financial markets,” Krzysztof Krawczyk told Polish state-run news agency PAP. You can meet Krzysztof Krawczyk and 250+ other private equity professionals at the Polish Private Equity Conference.

“This company is made to be listed.”

CVC sees listing Zabka as the preferred path for divesting the business, but is not in a hurry and will wait for the capital markets situation to improve, Krawczyk told PAP. Hear more about Zabka’s insights from private equity involvement, when CEO Tomasz Suchański takes the stage at the Polish Private Equity Conference. Learn more here: https://pe-insights.com/private-equity-conferences/poland/

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“It is hard to predict when capital markets will open, whether it will be the second half of this year or first half of next year. A lot depends on factors we have no impact on, i.e. geopolitics.”

A flotation in either Warsaw or abroad could be an option, Krawczyk said.

In October, Poland’s ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said the state might take over Zabka from CVC, which bought it from Mid Europa Partners, another private equity firm, in 2017.

In December, Polish state-controlled utility PGE agreed to buy one of the country’s biggest energy groups PKP Energetyka from CVC for 1.91 billion zlotys ($441.37 million).

Spokespeople for CVC and Zabka were not immediately available for comment.

Source: Euronews

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