All the right parts

Asbis, a leading Cypriot IT-components distributor in Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and the former Soviet Union, says it plans float on the WSE at the end of Q3 or beginning of Q4 this year. This will be the company's second bourse debut - Absis is already listed on the AIM alternative platform of the London Stock Exchange.

The funds taken from the Warsaw debut will be used to support Absis' IT-components distribution network and finance the development of its own brands. So far the company produces and distributes two own-brand products, which made up 7.6 percent of its revenue in 2006.

"About 30 percent of the funds from the bourse will to go to our private-label business," said Siarhei Kostevitch, the company's founder and general director. The company will also invest in the creation of new lines as well as a number of small acquisitions in the CEE region.

The amount of money the company wants to gain from the bourse has not yet been revealed. "Our prospectus hasn't yet been approved," Kostevitch explained. Indeed, Kostevitch revealed that plans to enter the bourse in the fall could be pushed back, in light of the recent market turbulence.

Although competition in the country is rather strong, with firms like Komputronik and Vobis going on the bourse and investing in their sales networks, Asbis said it wants to take the number-one position in Poland's market. "The local companies are strong, but so far we have the top position in the areas of central processing units, for example," said Kostevitch. He added that the company's own-brand products, which entered the market at the end of last year, were a huge success.