Croatian retailer Studenac scraps IPO plans
Adds CEO comment in paragraph 12, TTMS' scrapped IPO and WIG20 performance in paragraphs 9-10
Nov 28 (Reuters) -Croatian retailer Studenac has decided to cancel its dual initial public offering (IPO) because of unfavourable market conditions, it said on Thursday.
"Due to the challenging conditions in capital markets, we - together with our majority shareholder - have decided not to proceed with the IPO," CEO Michal Senczuk said in a statement.
Studenac declined to comment further when contacted by Reuters.
It had priced the offering at a maximum of 14.40 zlotys or 3.32 euros per share, hoping to bring the total value to more than 183 million euros ($192.9 million).
It had planned to list its shares in Warsaw and Zagreb and aimed to raise around 80 million euros from the issuance of new shares to finance its growth.
Fixed-income news service IFR reported on Tuesday that books for Studenac's offering were still not covered ahead of the close on Wednesday.
Studenac's offering, along with that of Polish convenience store group Zabka ZAB.WA, was expected to give a boost to Warsaw's bourse, which has not seen many big deals in recent years.
Zabka's shares have had a muted run since their debut last month and are down 12% from their IPO price of 21.50 zlotys.
Polish software firm Transition Technologies MS (TTMS) suspended its IPO last month, also citing unfavourable market conditions.
The Warsaw blue-chip index WIG20 .WIG20 is down 6.5% so far this year.
Senczuk said Studenac intended to keep driving organic growth by opening new stores and to pursue its strategy of consolidating the market through acquisitions of other players in Croatia and Slovenia.
He added the company might revisit IPO plans in the future, when market conditions are more favourable.
($1 = 0.9487 euros)
Reporting by Marta Maciag and Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk
Editing by David Goodman and Milla Nissi
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