Page 18 - bne_November 2018_20181105

18 I Companies & Markets bne November 2018
bne:Funds
Belarus retail giant Eurotorg mulls $300mn IPO in London
IntelliNews Pro
Eurotorg, the largest food retailer in Belarus is planning to list around $300mn of its shares in London in coming weeks, according to Reuters.
The move could be the first international listing by a Belarusian business. The offering of global depositary receipts could be launched soon, according to an unnamed source.
Reuters' sources declined to comment on the company’s valuation, but based on average valuation multiples of its peers, Eurotorg (aka Euroopt) could be worth close to $1.5bn including debt, according to bne IntelliNews sources close to the deal.
Its main comparables include Dino Polska in Poland and BIM in Turkey, which respectively have enterprise values of 22.8 and 15.8 times core earnings, Refinitiv Eikon data shows.
Eurotorg, which was facing a very high possibility of default on its debt obligations to local banks, placed $350mn five-
Belarus' largest supermarket chain hopes to raise $300mn in the country's first ever IPO soon
year Eurobonds in October 2017. Fitch Ratings has assigned Eurotorg a Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'B-(EXP)' with a stable outlook. At the same time, Fitch has assigned an expected rating of 'B-(EXP)'/'RR4' to Eurotorg's proposed notes.
“Eurotorg (aka Euroopt) could be worth close to $1.5bn including debt”
Successful measures to reduce debt, combined with solid Ebitda growth, helped to improve the net debt/Ebitda ratio to 3.0x as of June 30, compared to 3.2x at the end of 2017. The Ebitda/interest expenses LTM coverage ratio stood at 2.9x as of late June, compared to 2.7x as of late December 2017, the company said in a statement.
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