October 21 (SeeNews) - Sofia-based producer and distributor of organic products Smart Organic plans to launch a 3 million euro ($3.5 million) initial public offering (IPO) on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange's BEAM market on November 11, the company's founder and owner Yani Dragov said.
"There is an opportunity to acquire a competitor and we had to quickly provide funds for this acquisition," Dragov said in a video file published on the Facebook profile of local media Manager News on Wednesday.
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Dragov added that Smart Organic will also use bank loans to finance the acquisition.
Last month, Smart Organic said that it will seek to raise 3 million euro through an IPO on the Sofia bourse. The company intends to use the proceeds for the acquisition of an unnamed German competitor and the construction of a new production plant, it said at the time.
In 2019, Smart Organic's sales revenue rose to 33.3 million levs ($19.8 million/17 million euro) from 30.2 million levs a year earlier, according to company data published in the commercial register.
This will be a second IPO attempt for Smart Organic. In 2015, the Bulgarian financial regulator said it rejected the company's prospectus for a planned IPO.
Smart Organic was founded in Sofia in 2009 and is currently among the leading producers and distributors of organic food in Europe. Through its network of distributors and retailers, the company's products are available in more than 60 countries worldwide - in the EU, as well as in Asia and the Americas, according to information published on Smart Organic's website.
The company is making most of its products at its own factory in Sofia which spreads on over 6,000 sq.m.
Elsewhere in Southeast Europe, the company is active on the Romanian market.
The Bulgarian Stock Exchange's BEAM market was created with the purpose of allowing small and medium-sized enterprises to seek listing under simplified procedures as compared to the regulated market.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
($ = 0.859110 euro)