The stock debut was the first stage of the PGE’s privatisation scheduled by the Ministry of Treasury. The goal of the privatisation programme is to support the development of the energy sector in Poland and to strengthen the Polish economy. The capital is raised to enhance company goodwill, and privatisation serves as a way of obtaining resources necessary for large investments and for accelerating the development on the competitive European market.

The energy sector is one of the key sectors of the Polish economy, however it requires large investment outlays. The need for modernisation and creation of new power capacities comes from the growing need for energy. This tendency is expected to continue in the future and therefore there are a lot of challenges before the Polish energy sector, such as the need to implement new technologies or increase the share of renewable sources in generating power. New investments in the energy sector will provide increased effectiveness of generating power, among others by reducing capital consumption. The energy sector in Poland is also one of the key sectors of the economy where the state actively participates, which is associated with its strategic significance to the broadly defined national security. At the same time, the privatisation plans also apply to this sector, however corporate governance must be retained in such key enterprises as PGE.

PGE is the largest company of the Polish electric energy sector. It is also one of the biggest companies in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of  electricity generation and the installed generation capacity. By generating 42% of the national production, PGE supplies safe and stable energy to 5 million households, businesses and institutions. The interest in PGE shares was so high that the price reached the maximum level of PLN 23.00. Due to the high demand from individual investors, the pool of shares for individual investors was increased by half (to 15%). The PGE offering turned out to be so interesting that the total investors’ demand at the maximum price was 7.5 times higher than the number of shares offered, and the reduction in the batch intended for individual investors reached the level of 96.5%. The total value of the offering amounted to PLN 6 billion and therefore the company’s capitalisation is estimated to be PLN 40 billion.

After the debut, PGE will most probably be included in WIG20 – index of the largest and most solvent companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The resources acquired through the IPO will be used to finance investments in the development and modernisation of so-called conventional power capacity, i.e. coal-fuelled power plants and heating plants, and to buy out from the Treasury the minority stakes in some important subsidiaries of PGE.