Czerwona Torebka Developer Surges on Bourse Debut: Warsaw Mover

Czerwona Torebka SA, the shopping center developer owned by Polish investor Mariusz Switalski, surged on its first day of trading in Warsaw.

The shares advanced as much as 57 percent to 11 zloty, and traded at 10.21 zloty as of 11:47 a.m. in Warsaw, valuing the Poznan, Poland-based developer at 528 million zloty ($171 million). The WIG20 index of the country’s largest and most liquid stocks fell 0.3 percent, paring this year’s gain to 21 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The company this month sold 2.69 million shares at 7 zloty each, raising 18.8 million zloty in an initial public offering. It earlier planned to offer as much as 16.3 million new shares while the maximum price was set at 17.2 zloty per share. It’s the nineteenth company that debuted on the Warsaw bourse’s main market this year, according to stock exchange data.

Czerwona Torebka, which runs 24 shopping centers and is preparing to open another 59 outlets, plans to invest 4.5 billion zloty to expand its nationwide network to more than 1,880 strip malls by 2021. Switalski earlier founded Eurocash SA (EUR), now the country’s biggest distributor of non-durable consumer goods, as well as Biedronka and Zabka retail chains before selling them to foreign investors.

The company sees its 2013 profit rising to 166.7 million zloty from 29.1 million zloty expected this year, it said in a prospectus. Poland’s economic growth rate, although the slowest in three years, will still be the fifth-fastest in the 27- country European Union this year, according to European Commission forecasts

Bank Zachodni WBK SA and Trigon brokerages managed Czerwona Torebka’s share sale.

To contact the reporter on this story: Piotr Bujnicki in Warsaw at pbujnicki@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Wojciech Moskwa at wmoskwa@bloomberg.net