XTB Online Trading parent company X-Trade Brokers Dom Maklerski SA has filed details of its planned IPO with the Warsaw Exchange.
The company also released detailed financial information, which revealed that the XTB group brought in revenues of PLN 275 million (USD $72 million) in 2015, earning profit of $30 million. Revenues were up 39% in 2015 over 2014.
Retail Forex brokerage and platform provider XTB is planning on raising $56 million in its IPO, which would value XTB at about $400 million.
The shares would actually be sold by XTB controlling shareholder Jakub Zablocki. Mr. Zablocki would sell about 14% of his stake in the company in the offering.
If successful at the planned terms, this would be the largest IPO in Warsaw in more than a year. Like many Bourses worldwide, Warsaw has seen a marked slowdown in IPO activity over the past year.
Bloomberg reported Mr. Zablocki’s comments at a Warsaw press conference:
Volatility was back in 2015, which had an impact on XTB earnings. Big things may also happen this year, such as Brexit or Donald Trump’s win in U.S. presidential elections, which may impact financial markets and boost efficiency of our business and help increase our revenue. For a broker like XTB and its clients, these are the tailwinds.
Entering the stock exchange would boost our credibility, including potential institutional clients. Being a publicly traded company may also help us in taking over other European companies.
Zablocki, who founded XTB in 2004, is a former currency trader at Commerzbank AG. In 2010 Poland’s largest private equity firm Enterprise Investors acquired a 19% minority interest in XTB for PLN 224 million (USD $59 million), and remains XTB’s second largest shareholder after Zablocki. Enterprise Investors has agreed to a 180 day lock-up of its shares post IPO, while Zablocki has a longer 540 day lock-up on his shares.
Underwriters for the XTB IPO are JPMorgan, UniCredit, Pekao Investment Banking and Ipopema Securities. The book building process has already begun, and is targeted to be completed by April 26.
The XTB IPO prospectus can be downloaded from the company website (in Polish).