AmRest's zł.100 million IPO with help clear its debts and expand the company

The value of the offer will exceed zł.100 million. Individual investors will be offered 1.92 million shares, while the tranche for institutional investors will amount to as many as 7.9 million shares. The company's board announced that around 50% of funds obtained from the issue would be used to develop the restaurant network. "Yesterday we signed a contract which envisages the takeover of Miklik's Foods. It is the operator of KFC's largest competitor in the Czech Republic, the Big Food network," informed Henry McGovern, the president of AmRest. The company plans other acquisitions in the region. Moreover, during next three years AmRest intends to open over 15 restaurants annually in Poland and the Czech Republic. Another important aim of the share issue is to repay part of the company's debt, which exceed zł.100 million. McGovern admitted that the company might earmark up to 50% of the revenues from the share issue for that purpose. According to the issue prospectus, the company wants first of all to repay a zł.38.2 million loan from Citibank. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 8; Parkiet, p. 3) E.B.