Price appears to hold back sale of Optimus
Among widespread rumors that the majority shareholders of domestic computer giant Optimus would likely sell a chunk of its shares and voting rights to a strategic investor last week, some analysts said the sale would not take place any time soon due to high price expectations.
BRE Bank and individual investor Zbigniew Jakubas the major shareholders of Optimus have been engaged in discussions with several firms to sell an unknown portion of shares in the company, IT analysts said. Among the companies named were telecom, energy and cable conglomerate Elektrim, national telephone monopolist Telekomunikacja Polska (TPSA), television station Polsat, mobile operator Polkomtel (Plus GSM) and software manufacturer Prokom.
"There's one real problem which could be the price because the agreement between Jakubas and BRE Bank was signed at the peak of the internet craze," said Michal Buczynski, an IT analyst at Centrum Operacji Kapitalowych Banku Handlowego (COK BH). "Now we have significantly lower prices for internet companies."
In April, BRE and Jakubas, president of Zycie Warszawy Multico-Press, purchased 1.8 million shares of Optimus, a 28.43% stake with 65.94% voting rights. The stake was purchased from Optimus's former President Roman Kluska and his wife for zl. 141 per share. BRE controls 42.87% of votes, while Jakubas holds 23.07%, according to a news report. The investors said previously they intended to sell a portion of Optimus once the transaction had been completed. The sale to BRE and Jakubas was finalized Tuesday.
"To BRE, price matters," said Marcin Sadlej, an IT analyst at CDM Pekao Securities. He pointed out that the bank is probably now looking for a price of zl. 250-zl. 300 per share. On Friday, Optimus' share price closed at zl. 194.50 on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE). Optimus's current market capitalization is $275 million (zl. 1.21 billion), according to a report issued by Deutsche Bank last Tuesday.
Despite speculative news reports that the sale of shares to a strategic investor was going to take place last week, analysts were cautious about predicting a completion date. Sadlej estimated that the sale wouldn't occur for another one to two months, while Buczynski said it could take place more than a year from now, since no details of any talks were known.
Pawel Wrobel of BRE's public relations department said in a statement that BRE would accept the best offer it received. He declined to verify that the bank was conducting negotiations with any domestic or foreign companies that have been named as possible contenders. Jakubas could not be reached for comment.
Although nothing has been confirmed by any of the prospective buyers, Sadlej said he was 99% sure that Elektrim was in negotiations with BRE and Jakubas and 99% sure that TPSA had already conducted talks about a possible deal.
"It comes down to Elektrim vs. TPSA," Sadlej said. "Primarily what's the most valuable part of Optimus is the portal, and Elektrim hasn't acquired one yet."
Optimus owns Optimus Pascal, which operates the Onet (www.onet.pl) internet search engine. The site is the most popular search engine in Poland and would be the crown jewel for all prospective investors, analysts said.
"The only value that Optimus has is the brand name of its Onet portal that is (more) highly valued by analysts than the rest of Optimus," Buczynski said.
Ewa Bojar, Elektrim's spokeswoman, said she would not comment on whether the company was conducting negotiations with BRE/Jakubas. "On the market here (there) is so much speculation and rumors that it's not very good for our situation or Optimus because we're both stock exchange (listed) companies," she said.
Neither Dariusz Dabski, the new president of Optimus, or Kluska, could be reached for comment.
Elektrim has the best chance of becoming the strategic shareholder in Optimus, especially considering the firm's internet plans, analysts said. Elektrim said earlier this year that it plans to spend $100 million on its internet strategy. In April, the company acquired five local IT and electronic commerce-related companies to implement its plans. None of the companies, however, included a vertical portal, such as Onet. TPSA already has a vertical portal (www.portal.pl).
