Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
The Polish online forex broker X-Trade Brokers (XTB) debuted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange on Friday, as it has announced earlier this year.
On May 6 XTB released a total of 117 383 635 shares. At the initial public offering were put for sale 16 433 709 shares, or 14% of the company, priced at PLN 11.5 ($2.98) per share. This puts the total value of the initial public offering (IPO) of PLN 190 million (nearly $49.2 million). Thus XTB’s market capitalization reached PLN 1.5 billion ($349 million).
The actual IPO price is lower than the initially announced in the prospectus price of PLN 13 per share and much lower than the early valuations of the bookrunners. Nevertheless, this is the biggest IPO at the Warsaw Stock Exchange since last April.
“Joining the group of companies listed on the WSE for us is a key element of the strategy to build long-term value of XTB. From now on our competitive advantages, such as, among others, modern technologies and broad, diverse and expanding range of products and services, will join another feature desired by our customers – transparency of our business model and finances. We hope that both existing and new shareholders will be of interest to follow our further development, enjoying the success of building the value of the company,”said Jakub Maly, XTB CEO.
XXZW, which currently holds over 80% in XTB, agreed to a 540-day lock-up counting from XTB’s WSE debut. The second major shareholder, Systexan (19% stake) will be under 180-day lock-up, while XTB itself agreed to a 360-day lock-up.
The IPO was led by the US multinational financial services company JP Morgan and UniCredit’s Pekao Investment Banking, assisted locally by the Poland-based financial services company Ipopema Securities.
XTB is be the fourth large forex broker to become public, after UK’s CMC, Japan’s Hirose and BATS Global Markets.
XTB was founded in 2002 and is now established in more than 15 countries in Europe, South America and Asia. It is the leading forex broker in Central and Eastern Europe. The broker provides online trading in over 1500 instruments, including forex, indices, shares, commodities and ETFs. It offers three types of live trading accounts and does not require a minimum deposit. Trading can be done on two platforms – the MetaTrader 4 and the broker’s proprietary xStation. The broker’s various subsidiaries are regulated by UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Poland’s financial supervision commission (KNF).
In 2015 the broker posted a 54% rise in its net profit to PLN 119 million ($31.9 million) and a 38% increase in revenue to PLN 283 million ($75.8 million).
