Month: May 2021

Rymarz Zdort advised Pepco Group N.V. and its subsidiaries (“Pepco” or the “Group”) on the Polish law aspects of a EUR 740 million senior facilities agreement entered into with a consortium comprising 11 leading international and Polish financial institutions.

In order to refinance the Pepco Group’s existing indebtedness, Pepco Group entities entered into a new senior facilities agreement under which secured term loans in the aggregate amount of up to EUR 550 million and a secured working capital facility in the aggregate amount of up to EUR 190 million (or the equivalent thereof in other currencies) were made available to the Group.

The refinancing was connected with the IPO of Pepco on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (in connection with which Rymarz Zdort also advised Pepco Group on Polish law matters) and the respective finance documentation included aspects directly related to the IPO.

Pepco owns and operates a multi-format, pan-European retail business under the PEPCO, Dealz and Poundland brands, with 3,246 stores located across 16 countries (as at 31 March 2021). In the financial year ended 30 September 2020, Pepco’s revenues increased to EUR 3.5 billion.

Marcin Iwaniszyn, a partner and co-head of the banking and finance practice of Rymarz Zdort, supervised the team working on the financing, which also included associate Sebastian Mikina, who rendered day-to-day advice relating to the financing and was supported by associate Krystian Kurgan.

Rymarz Zdort advised Pepco Group N.V. (“Pepco”, “Group”) on Polish law matters related to the initial public offering of shares in Pepco and their admission and introduction to trading on the regulated market operated by the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Pepco’s offering and listing on the Warsaw stock exchange is the largest IPO in Poland in terms of value in 2021 thus far. Based on the final offer price, the market capitalisation of the Company amounted to PLN 23 billion (EUR 5 billion). The offering involved the sale of 92,466,602 existing shares and generated gross proceeds of approximately PLN 3.7 billion (EUR 0.8 billion).

The offering was conducted in accordance with U.S. Rule 144A and was directed at retail investors and institutional investors in Poland. The shares in Pepco were also offered to selected foreign institutional investors (within and outside of the United States).

Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE and J.P. Morgan A.G. acted as joint global coordinators for Pepco’s IPO.

Pepco owns and operates a multi-format, pan-European variety discount retail business under the PEPCO, Dealz and Poundland brands, with 3,246 stores located across 16 countries (as at 31 March 2021). The Group’s stores offer apparel, homeware-led general merchandise, including seasonal products, and FMCG at market leading prices. In the financial year ended 30 September 2020, Pepco’s revenues increased to EUR 3.5 billion.

“We congratulate Pepco Group on joining the elite group of major companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and all of the parties involved in what has thus far been the largest IPO in Poland in 2021. We are delighted that Pepco Group’s share offering has met with strong interest from a wide range of Polish and international institutional investors, as well as demand from individual investors. We are proud that our long-standing experience in providing legal advice on international IPOs and our knowledge of the Polish capital market are appreciated by international clients and leading investment firms, and that such experience and knowledge allow us to provide our clients with legal advice concerning the most complex transactions conducted on the equity capital markets in Poland,” said Marcin Chyliński, a partner in the corporate department and the head of the equity capital markets practice at Rymarz Zdort.

The transaction team, led by Marcin Chyliński, comprised: Ewa Bober, partner; Robert Krasnodębski, partner; Filip Leśniak, counsel; Marek Kanczew, counsel; Marta Rykalovska, associate; Ada Zahorodna, associate; Tomasz Wieczorek, associate; and Kacper Skowron, associate.

Rymarz Zdort advised Polish energy group PGE in the finalisation of a joint venture agreement, announced on 10 February this year with Danish company Ørsted, the purpose of which is the development, construction and operation of two offshore wind farm projects, Baltica-3 and Baltica-2, with a total capacity of approximately 2500 MW.

The estimated total cost of the investment with a capacity of approximately 2500 MW is around PLN 30-40 billion.

The team involved in the project included: Marek Durski, partner; dr Marek Maciąg, partner; Iwona Her, partner; Jakub Krzemień, counsel; dr Agnieszka Koniewicz, counsel; Aleksandra Kabać, senior associate; Adrian Augustyniak, associate; Marta Szczepkowska, associate and Irmina Wątły, counsel.