June 18 (SeeNews) - The shares of poultry producer Gradus [BUL:GR6T] started trading on the initial public offering (IPO) segment of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) on Monday, the bourse said.
The price range set for the IPO is 1.80-2.35 levs ($1.07/0.9 euro - $1.4/1.2 euro), the BSE said in a statement.
You can subscribe to our M&A newsletter here
The IPO auction is being held on the XETRA platform of Deutsche Börse and will continue on Tuesday.
"For more than a year we have been preparing this strategic project and we believe that Gradus is a very good example for successful companies in all sectors of our economy. We are convinced that with the funds raised over these two days the company will meet its ambitious investment plans," Ivan Takev, CEO of BSE, said.
"We believe that this IPO will be a new step not only for our development but also for the BSE," Angel Angelov, CEO of Gradus said.
Gradus will offer 55.6 million shares, representing a 25% stake in the company, of which 27.8 million already existing shares and an additional 27.8 million new shares. The IPO has an over-allotment option under which the company's owners can decide to offer an additional 6.6 million shares.
The IPO of Gradus is expected to be the largest one held on the BSE in the past 11 years, BSE said.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)