Polish ecommerce platform Allegro announces IPO plans; aims to raise €225M

Polish ecommerce platform Allegro has announced its intention to undertake an initial public offering via a placing to institutional and retail investors. It plans to raise 1 billion zlotys (€225M) and debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. According to a report, a valuation of between €10B to €12B is being targeted by advisers.

According to the company, “the offering will strengthen the group’s financial position by enabling it to repay part of its outstanding debt, support the group’s growth plans by increasing its public profile and brand awareness, and create a new long-term shareholder base for the group, including employees, as well as liquidity for its existing and future shareholders.”

The group has also entered into a commitment letter with lenders for a new PLN 5.5 billion five-year senior secured term loan and a PLN 500.0 million (about €112.5 million) multi-currency revolving credit facility that will be used to refinance all of the group’s debts. 

Its adjusted EBITDA for the first six months of 2020 (ended June 30) was PLN 808M (nearly €181M). 

“Allegro has demonstrated exceptional growth, profitability, and cash generation at scale over time. We have seen an acceleration of growth over the last three years thanks to our ongoing strategic initiatives and investments, with annual GMV and net revenue reaching approximately 25% and over 30% growth, respectively, in 2019, and GMV and net revenue growth each over 50% in the first half of 2020,” says François Nuyts, Chief Executive Officer of Allegro.

“Today marks a new phase in Allegro’s growth journey as we invest in innovation; bring even more customers to our platform; invest in our people; and create the best possible experience for our buyers and merchants,” he adds.

Allegro is the leading ecommerce platform in Poland and its e-commerce marketplace has a user base of approximately 12.3 million active buyers and approximately 117,000 merchants, contributing to an average of 32 million monthly transactions. The marketplace also generated GMV of PLN 28.4B (€6.38B) for the twelve months ended June 30, 2020. The group’s GMV grew by 25.4% in 2019 compared to growth of approximately 16% for the rest of the e-commerce segment in Poland.

Image credits: Allegro