Sugar Producer Plans Warsaw IPO.

Astarta-Kiev, Ukraine’s large producer of sugar, said it plans to raise EUR 32-45m by selling a stake of 25.1-28.5% on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The funds would be spent to acquire new plants and to modernize existing ones. The company said it had a 3.2% market share which it planned to increase to 10% by 2010. Olha Pankiv: This would be the first IPO of a Ukrainian company in Warsaw and the second IPO of a Ukrainian agricultural company. We think it will attract interest, but we think the upper end of the announced price range (P/S 2.5-3.5, P/E 13.2-18.6) is too high.