WARSAW - October 12, 2020 - Greenberg Traurig acted as legal counsel to the investment banks in the initial public offering of shares in Allegro.eu (“Allegro”) and the admission of Allegro shares to listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Allegro group is the go-to commerce platform in Poland with Allegro.pl being the most recognized e-commerce brand in the country. As of June 30, 2020 Allegro group’s e‑commerce marketplace had a user base of approximately 12.3 million active buyers who connected with approximately 117,000 merchants. Allegro.pl is also one of the world’s top 10 e-commerce websites and among the top 100 websites in the world by visits per month.
The value of the shares sold in the IPO amounted to PLN 9.2 billion (PLN 10.6 billion including the over-allotment shares) and is the largest IPO in Poland’s history. The capitalization of the company (based on the IPO price) is PLN 44.0 billion with Allegro becoming, in terms of capitalization, the largest company listed solely on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
The IPO of Allegro included a retail and institutional public offering in Poland, as well as an institutional offering for investors outside of Poland in accordance with Rule 144A and Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act.
As legal counsel as to the matters of Polish law, Greenberg Traurig advised Goldman Sachs International and Morgan Stanley, as Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners; Barclays Bank, BofA Securities, Citi, as Joint Bookrunners, Biuro Maklerskie PKO BP and Santander Biuro Maklerskie, as the Joint Bookrunners and Co-Offering Agents, and Bank Pekao, Pekao Investment Banking, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Erste Group and Raiffeisen Centrobank as the Co-Lead Managers.
“Congratulations to Allegro and all of the involved parties on the successful completion of this historic IPO, which has the potential to redefine and serve as a new benchmark for the Polish market. We are here for our clients and their continuous trust enables us to successfully handle innovative projects of such a complex nature and unprecedented scale. This confirms our leading position and demonstrates why Greenberg Traurig is the go-to firm for such work in Poland and in the region,” said Lejb Fogelman, Senior Partner of the Warsaw Office of Greenberg Traurig.
“Allegro’s IPO is a landmark transaction for the Polish and CEE capital markets. I believe that the transaction and interest surrounding it bring new energy to the Warsaw Stock Exchange at a decisive moment, underlining for years to come Warsaw’s attractiveness as a market for issuers and investors alike. It is a market we know very well, the Warsaw Capital Markets Practice has been our cornerstone in Poland for the last thirty years and will continue to be so,” said Jarosław Grzesiak, Managing Partner and Head of Greenberg Traurig’s Capital Markets Practice in Poland.
The Greenberg Traurig team included Partners Lejb Fogelman, Jarosław Grzesiak, Paweł Piotrowski, Rafał Sieński and Senior Associate Agata Wiśniewska.
Greenberg Traurig is recognized as a longstanding leader in Poland with respect to capital markets. For many years, the Warsaw Capital Markets Practice has been consistently ranked at the very top by leading international directories: Band 1 by Chambers Global, Chambers Europe and the Legal 500, as well as Tier 1 by the IFLR 1000. The Practice offers clients an unparalleled breadth of experience in all aspects of Polish securities law, allowing for the facilitation of all phases of securities transactions on Polish and international capital markets. Greenberg Traurig Warsaw’s seasoned capital markets professionals are acknowledged leaders in Poland and together make up one of the most experienced teams amongst international law firms in the vibrant Central European market.
Greenberg Traurig
Greenberg Traurig, LLP is an international, multi-practice law firm with approximately 2200 attorneys serving clients from 40 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Greenberg Traurig Grzesiak sp.k. was named the 2019 and 2018 Most Innovative Law Firm of the Year Award for Poland by International Financial Law Review (IFLR) and the 2017 Law Firm of the Year in Poland by Chambers and Partners. The Warsaw office of Greenberg Traurig, LLP provides legal services to clients in Central Europe and beyond and consists of approximately 100 lawyers. Team members are regularly recognized as leaders in numerous practice areas. Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, IFLR1000 and EMEA Legal 500 consistently rank them among the top tiers the areas of Corporate/M&A, Capital Markets, Real Estate, Private Equity, Tax, Banking and Finance, Project Finance, Energy, Dispute Resolution and TMT.
For additional information, please visit www.gtlaw.com.