M&A

6 November, 2009

Advent fund bids to buy Polish publisher WSiP

WARSAW, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. private equity fund Advent International announced a public bid on Friday for Poland's top textbook publisher WSiP WSIP.WA for 405 million zlotys ($141 million).

Advent, which does not own any WSiP shares, is offering 16.35 zlotys each, a 1.5 percent premium over Thursday's closing price. By 0925 GMT, the stock gained 1.1 percent to 16.28 zlotys.

Advent International, whose investments include British store chain Poundland and German fashion retailer Takko, plans to delist WSiP if it buys at least 80 percent of the former state company privatised in 2004.

Polish investor Zbigniew Jakubas told Reuters he was unlikely to sell his 10 percent stake in WSiP.

Shareholders will be able to sign up for the buyout between Nov 27 and Dec 28. The offer is managed by ING Securities. ($1=2.872 Zloty) (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko, writing by Adrian Krajewski; Editing by Hans Peters)

Source: http://www.reuters.com