Groundbreaking mBank IPO poses appraisal problems

The initial public offering of Poland's first and biggest virtual bank, mBank, will take place in the fourth quarter of this year. Owner BRE Bank plans to put up to 49% of mBank stock on offer, but it is not certain if the entire amount will be sold off this year. The share issue is causing a headache for analysts, who will have to value it. "Even with mBank's balance sheet it will be difficult to appraise it. This will be the first time we have to do this for a company that runs its banking activities solely through electronic channels," said ING BSK analyst Marek Swieton. Despite the difficulties, Swieton believes demand for mBank shares could be quite high. By the end of January mBank had opened 203,000 accounts, with deposits totaling zl.1.15 billion. (Puls Biznesu, p. 4) T.J.