Poland’s top online retailer and auction portal Allegro announced details of its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) on September 22.

The company has set the maximum price of PLN43 (€9.59) per share for its debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, due on October 12. That puts Allegro’s valuation at up to PLN8.1bn, one of the biggest-ever IPOs on the Warsaw bourse.

“The public share offering of Allegro.eu comprises up to 187,826,087 ordinary shares in total with up to 5% of the final number of the offer shares allotted to retail investors,” the company said in a statement detailing the listing.

Retail investors can subscribe to the company’s shares between September 23 and September 28. Book-building among institutional investors began on September 22 and will end on September 28. 

The final share price will be published on or about September 29, the company also said.

Allegro also said that its free float would be at least 18.26% of the company.

Allegro’s IPO has been expected since July, when the first speculation appeared in the news about the upcoming debut.

If all goes as planned for Allegro, the company’s stock exchange valuation could be as much as €10bn-€12bn. That would make Allegro one of the biggest on the Warsaw bourse, alongside gaming giant CD Projekt and foreign-owned Czech utility CEZ and banks Unicredit and Santander.

Allegro is owned by the private equity funds Cinven, Permira, and Mid Europa Partners, which acquired Allegro for $3.25bn in 2016 from South African owner Naspers.

An estimated 79% of Polish consumers use Allegro for online shopping. Allegro's revenues came in at PLN2.39bn in 2019, an expansion of 33% versus 2018. The net result grew nearly 73.9% to PLN400mn last year.