(Alliance News) - Steinhoff International Holdings NV is close to hiring advisors to support plans for an IPO of discount variety retailer Pepco Group, Sky News reported on Tuesday.
An IPO is being considered by struggling retail holding company Steinhoff, which owns Pepco, alongside an outright sale of the business.
Pepco owns Poundland stores in the UK, and operates under the PEPCO brand across eastern Europe.
Steinhoff is expected to appoint a fresh slate of investment banks "in the coming days" to help with listing preparations. An IPO could value Pepco at GBP3.4 billion, said Sky News.
Steinhoff is understood to be targeting a dual listing of the retail group in London and Warsaw, said Sky News, although a source "close to the process" said no final decision had been made.
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan were hired to work on the potential flotation last autumn, said Sky News.
https://news.sky.com/story/poundland-owner-lines-up-banks-for-3bn-stock-market-float-11902956
Poundland was listed in London before agreeing to be taken over by Steinhoff in 2016 in a deal worth around GBP610 million.
Steinhoff, which has struggled since an accounting scandal in December 2017, recently agreed to sell Blue Group Holdings Co. Blue Group includes Bensons for Beds, Harveys Furniture and associated group of manufacturing companies, which have been owned by Steinhoff since 2005.
Steinhoff shares were up 1.2% at ZAR0.83 in Johannesburg on Tuesday. Shortly prior to the reveal of accounting irregularities just over two years ago, the stock traded above ZAR55.00.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.