GESSEL advised Cognor Holding on a public share offering valued at PLN 300 million

GESSEL advised Cognor Holding S.A. (the “Company”), one of the largest steel product manufacturers in Poland, on a secondary public offering of new shares with a value of PLN 300,000,000.00 and on sale of PLN 217,914,690.00 in existing shares by the shareholder PS Holdco, with PS Holdco’s proceeds used to acquire new shares in the Company. Thanks to this structure, the shareholder procured a cash injection for the Company while preserving its stake. The SPO was conducted in the form of an accelerated book building process (ABB).

The Company will apply the funds thus raised towards increasing production capacity at the Ferrostal Gliwice steel plant and development of specialised steel technologies, also for the defence sector. These investments constitute part of a broader modernisation programme aimed at achieving full self-sufficiency in production of billets for the Company’s rolling mills and further strengthening Cognor Holding’s position as a producer of high value added steel in the European Union.

“Cognor is consistently implementing its ambitious strategy for development of its capital group, and we are happy to have played a role in obtainment of financing to keep this momentum strong. We proudly delivered legal advice suited to the sheer complexity of such a transaction, and to the speed at which it progressed. The success of the SPO reflects excellent cooperation and the professional engagement of the Company, PS Holdco and all advisors involved in the process”, commented Krzysztof Marczuk, Partner in GESSEL.

The process involved leading capital markets institutions and PR advisors. Ipopema Securities as well as Trigon Dom Maklerski and Trigon Investment Banking acted as offer managers and co-bookrunners. Investor relations and communications support was provided by InnerValue and cc group.