CEE Equity

Tuesday brought three block trades in Europe’s equity capital market. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development sold its whole 5.1% stake in PKP Cargo, a Polish rail freight operator, for Z197m (€47m) via Goldman Sachs and Wood & Co.

Three block trades are in the market, as secondary placement activity remains busy. The most exotic of the trades is for Sergey Galitsky, founder of the Russian retailer Magnit, who is selling up to 1m shares in the business – apparently to finance improvements to the stadium at his football team, FC Krasnodar.

Wizz Air, the Hungarian budget airline, has announced its intention to float in London, seven months after its previous, failed IPO.

The main European stockmarket indices rose this morning, and equity issuers pressed ahead with their IPO plans, even as Greece’s Syriza formed a coalition with fellow anti-austerity party Independent Greeks.

After the extraordinary fireworks of Santander’s €7.5bn block trade on Thursday January 8, the year’s more workaday business in European equity capital markets began in earnest on Monday, as five IPOs were launched.

Turkey’s Council of Ministers has decided to sell a substantial stake in Borsa Istanbul, the Turkish Stock Exchange, in what could be one of the country’s largest IPOs next year.

Lotos, the Polish oil refiner, on Thursday set pricing on a Z1bn ($294m) rights offer that it has been planning to finance investments in its refineries and oil fields.

Lotos, the Polish oil refiner, on Thursday set pricing on a Z1bn rights offer that it has been planning to finance investments in its refineries and oil fields.

Following an independent valuation, Malaysia-based stationery maker Pelikan International Corp has shrunk the size of a rights issue that it will use to fund a restructuring.

Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) is looking to raise around MR1.32bn ($396m) via a rights issue which will go towards funding its acquisition of an airport in Turkey.

Arcadis, the UK engineering consultancy, has raised €174m by selling new ordinary shares in a rights offering.

Gazprom's announcement on Tuesday that it could seek a listing in Hong Kong made it the latest Russian firm to pursue an Asian listing in part to solve liquidity issues in the wake of sanctions. While the Asian market is still too nascent to solve Russian companies' big funding troubles, developing relationships with investors could be a valuable long-term strategy, bankers said.