Zabka Group Plans IPO on Warsaw Stock Exchange
Zabka Group, Poland’s ultimate tech-powered convenience ecosystem which was acquired by the US private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in 2017, is planning to raise funds through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) for the listing of its shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
The company did not disclose the details of the offering nor its timeline, but Bloomberg reported that Zabka’s owners hope to raise between $1 billion and $1.5 billion during the debut, which would value the company at up to $8 billion.
Zabka’s management believes that the listing will strengthen the Group’s public profile by way of increased attention and brand awareness among current and potential commercial partners as well as other interested parties.
The IPO will consist of a placing of existing shares to institutional investors in certain jurisdictions and to retail investors in Poland. The Company will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of the Offer Shares by the selling shareholders. The selling shareholders will receive all of the proceeds from the sale of the Offer Shares.
Zabka Group is Poland’s leading convenience retailer with more than 10,500 stores operated under a franchise model, newly launched store operations in Romania and an advanced digital customer offering (together with Romania referred to as New Growth Engines) which includes D2C meal solutions (Maczfit), a D2C meal marketplace (Dietly), eGrocery businesses (delio, Jush!) and autonomous unmanned Żabka Nano stores.
As Poland’s largest convenience retailer, Żabka enjoys approximately 90% brand awareness in the country and has c. 17m consumers living less than 500m from their nearest store. In 2023 Zabka Group conducted approximately 3.6 million average daily transactions.
Poland’s Leading Store
Zabka Group CEO Tomasz Suchański said that this next step in Zabka Group’s journey, which is the result of the success of its franchisees, the hard work and passion of the employees, and a long track record of consistent profitable growth.
Since the business was founded in 1998, Zabka Group has grown to become Poland’s leading convenience ecosystem, with a clear focus on simplifying people’s everyday lives and allowing them to free up free time.
With more than 10,500 physical stores across Poland and Romania and a leading digital offering, Zabka is providing its consumers with personalised experiences as we respond to their evolving needs.
“As consumers increasingly look for convenience, an IPO will allow Zabka Group to further capture the significant market opportunity that we see ahead of us. We have set clear and achievable medium-term targets to realise that opportunity, with an aim to double Sales to End Customers by 2028, while opening more than 1,000 stores per year in the medium term in Poland and Romania,” Tomasz added.
Zabka Group recently entered the highly attractive Romanian market via the acquisition of DRIM – a top 10 distribution company in Romania. Through the acquisition, Zabka Group gained access to a strong logistics platform serving 13,000 physical locations and an established supplier network.