To say the year 2020 was undoubtedly tough would be an understatement. The pandemic forced the majority of people to commence working from home while companies faced numerous dilemmas. However, most companies that survived the tough times are stronger than ever, and investors are on the lookout for new opportunities as well. The same sentiment was reflected with the polish company InPost SA’s notable IPO as its stockholders sold 35 per cent of InPost for €2.8B in Europe’s biggest listing so far this year.
InPost becomes Europe’s biggest IPO since 2018
InPost has become Europe’s biggest IPO since 2018 as its investors raised a whopping €2.8B for its shares. The company was listed on the Amsterdam market as its stockholders eyed investment from the city’s tech-savvy investors. Advent International, Templeton Strategic Emerging Markets Fund and PZU Fundusz are the company stockholders, which sold 175 million existing shares of the company, each at €16, which is the top end of its initial range, the company says, reports Bloomberg.
As per FT, ahead of the IPO, three notable investors BlackRock, Capital World Investors and Singapore’s GIC committed to buy €1.03bn worth of the company’s shares. The IPO was initially planned for Friday, but it happened on Wednesday as the company hastened the listing by two days because of “significant investor demand”.
“We have a clear vision – to become Europe’s leading out-of-home automated solution for e-commerce, and a focused plan to help us get there. Our listing represents not the end, but the beginning of the next step in this journey. InPost is positioned at the heart of the rapidly growing e-commerce market and is primed to benefit from the flywheel effect which drives an accelerating increase in consumer and merchant adoption of our APMs. We see great potential to build our presence across Europe as more markets recognise the advantages our APMs have for both merchants and consumers,” says Rafał Brzoska, Group Chief Executive Officer of InPost
From leaflets to automated lockers
InPost was started back in 1999 by Rafał Brzoska, who used it for leaflet distribution. With the IPO, Brzoska has become a billionaire as he holds a 12.2 per cent stake in the company. Currently, InPost offers self-service lockers for its customers that can be used to arrange delivery and collection of parcels. At the end of 2020, the startup owned 12,254 automated parcel machines via which 249 million deliveries are said to have been handled. Advent acquired the business in 2017 as part of a push into the e-commerce market.
“We have plans to expand and replicate our business from Poland to the U.K., France, Spain and Italy, and the expansion would be fully financed with our own resources and cash generation,” Brzoska said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
On 13 January 2021, InPost announced its intention to launch an offering and list on Euronext Amsterdam. According to reports, the company picked Amsterdam for its listing to reflect its international expansion plans.