// Poundland’s owner on the verge of appointing advisers to assist with IPO
// The listing could value Pepco Group at about £3.4bn
Poundland’s parent company is reportedly on the verge of drafting in advisers to help plan for a stock market listing later this year.
According to Sky News, Steinhoff International – which owns Pepco Group, the company that operates Poundland and other discount retailers across Europe – is expected to appoint a investment banks in the coming days as it prepares for an initial public offering (IPO).
Should it eventuate, the listing could value Pepco at about £3.4 billion.
READ MORE:
- Pepco hires ex-Tesco International CEO Trevor Masters as MD
- Poundland owner undergoes rename & keeps float or sale possibility open
- Poundland owner Pepkor in talks over sale or float for September
Steinhoff is also reportedly mulling outright sale of Pepco, which comprises more than 2700 stores in the UK and across Europe.
Speculation of Pepco going public first emerged in September, just weeks before it was renamed from Pepkor Europe.
When the company officially renamed to Pepco Group that month, bosses kept open the possibility of a sale or IPO.
Sky News reported that Steinhoff was mulling a possible dual listing of Pepco in London and Warsaw.
Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan were appointed to work on the IPO last autumn.
It wouldn’t be Poundland’s first time on the stock market, after Steinhoff took it private in July 2016 in a £600 million.
Steinhoff – which is still reeling from the fallout of an accounting scandal worth an estimated $7.4 billion (£6.1 billion) – said last August that its only way to survive was to slim down and sell assets.
In November, Bensons for Beds and Harveys have had a change of hands after its parent company Blue Group – which was owned by Steinhoff – was sold to Alteri Investors for an undisclosed sum.
The deals pertained to the whole of Blue Group, which includes manufacturers Relyon, Steinhoff UK Beds and Formation Furniture alongside two furniture retailers.
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