The motives behind Polish operator Play’s upcoming IPO have been called into question by some of the country’s leading financial analysts.
Several fund managers and analysts have noted that unit seems to have been optimistically over-valued in its listing, with some even suggesting that the entire IPO announcement could be a subterfuge in order to obtain a ballpark valuation so that the unit can then be sold on to media group Liberty Global.
Play announced its IPO in June after several indications that it would launch the float. It has said that the listing will take place in the second half of July, with estimates indicating that it could generate at least PLN2.5 billion ($670 million), possibly even as much as PLN5.3 billion.
The operator had the second highest number of connections in Poland at the end of Q1 2017. CEO Jorgen Bang-Jensen said that the IPO would enable investment in “Poland’s favourite brand”, allowing investors to buy into “one of the most attractive mobile communications markets in Europe”.
Play’s IPO was announced after an attempt to auction the operator in October 2016, which fell through after failing to bring in high enough bids from private equity firms.
