Deals

Enterprise Investors exits LPP

The Warsaw-based buyout firm has sold its stake in listed central European fashion retailer LPP on the Warsaw stock exchange for PLN 196 million.

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Enterprise Investors (EI), the central European private equity firm, has announced its exit from regional fashion retailer LPP in a transaction valued at PLN 196 million ($61 million; €50 million).
 
The firm sold its 13 percent stake in the company to a range of Polish and international investors on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, receiving a multiple of 4.5 times its original investment. This represents an IRR of 90 percent.
 
LPP sells clothing products under brands such as “Reserved” and “Cropp Town” in over 170 stores in central and eastern Europe.
 
EI’s Polish Enterprise Fund IV acquired its stake in the company in 2003 for a price of PLN 51 million. It acquired 15,000 shares as part of a new equity issue in April that year, and a further 200,000 shares the following month British financial investor Grangefont Ltd. At the time, LPP had only seven stores.
 
The firm said in a statement that the company’s sales were expected to reach PLN 750 million this year, almost double the figure at the time of its investment.
 
Established in 1990, Enterprise Investors manages five funds with capital totalling more than $1.1 billion. It has made investments totalling $955 million in more than 100 companies in Central and Eastern Europe, and has exited 77 investments with total proceeds of $956 million.