Baker & McKenzie Continues Run of CEE Deals with Milkiland IPO
Deal Announcement
6 December 2010
Warsaw, Poland, 6 December 2010 – Baker & McKenzie has continued a run of Central and Eastern Europe capital markets deals by advising Unicredit Bank as the underwriter on dairy producer Milkiland's IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The multi-jurisdictional deal was managed and coordinated by Baker & McKenzie's Warsaw Office with support from the Kyiv, Amsterdam, London and Moscow offices.
The transaction, which raised €53 million, follows the recent IPO of Czech betting company Fortuna Entertainment Group N.V. and eurobonds offering of the Polish telecom company Polkomtel S.A., both of which Baker & McKenzie advised on.
Milkiland is headquartered in the Netherlands but principally operates in Russia and Ukraine. It is one of the leading dairy sector companies in the CIS region. In volume terms, it is the third largest producer of hard cheese and among the top five producers of whole milk products.
Warsaw Securities Partner Jakub Celiński who led of the deal commented: “We are delighted to have worked on this transaction. It was a complex transaction spanning five jurisdictions that was completed in five months. It further demonstrates our strength and experience of cross-border securities deals in the CEE region.”
London Capital Markets Partner Roy Pearce added: "Milkiland's IPO continues the trend of Ukrainian businesses tapping the Warsaw Stock Exchange and follows previous listings by Astarta Holding and Kernel. While there was considerable take-up from Polish investors there was also good interest from elsewhere in the EU, which highlights the fact that investors are increasingly comfortable with exchanges outside the more established markets."
Milkiland becomes the fourth company with origins in Ukraine to be listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Baker & McKenzie has advised on three of these, having previously advised on the Astarta Holding N.V. in 2006 and Kernel S.A. in 2007.
The Baker & McKenzie team was led by Warsaw Partner Jakub Celiński and included Kyiv Partner Viacheslav Yakymchuk, Amsterdam Partner Marc Rijkaart van Cappellen, London Partner Roy Pearce, and Moscow Partners Sergei Voitishkin and Alexey Afanasiev, with support from Warsaw Associate Artur Kubiak, Kyiv Associates Olha Demianiuk and Olena Kuchenska, Amsterdam Associates Maarten Beimers and Menno Geusens and London Senior Associate Iryna Nagayets.