InPost Soars as Firm Is Said to Draw Private Equity Interest

(Bloomberg) -- InPost SA surged after people familiar with the matter said the Polish operator of self-service lockers for e-commerce is attracting potential takeover interest from private equity firms.

Shares of InPost gained as much as 33% in Monday trading, the biggest intraday jump since its initial public offering in January 2021. They were up 21% at 1:25 p.m. in Amsterdam, giving the company a market value of about 3.2 billion euros ($3.5 billion). 

Several buyout firms such as CVC Capital Partners and Hellman & Friedman have studied the feasibility of a deal for InPost, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. Considerations are preliminary and there’s no certainty anyone will pursue bids, the people said, asking not to be identified because deliberations are private.

“Although parties may from time to time approach InPost or its majority shareholder, InPost is currently not in discussions with such market parties nor it is aware of such discussions being ongoing,” the company said in a statement Monday. 

InPost is drawing interest after its shares through last week lost about two-thirds of their value since the company’s listing. 

A deal would need the support of private equity firm Advent International, which still owns 46% of the business and is seen as key to any team-up or divestment, the people said. The company’s owners could see takeover approaches now as opportunistic, given the slump in the InPost share price contrasts with rising demand for e-commerce services, they said.

Spokespeople for Advent, CVC and Hellman & Friedman declined to comment. 

InPost allows its customers to arrange for the delivery and collection of parcels across a network of more than 16,000 self-service lockers throughout Poland. 

Advent had been encouraged to list the company by the response to the earlier IPO of e-commerce platform Allegro.eu SA, whose merchants use InPost’s services. InPost listed in what was Europe’s biggest initial public offering since 2018. 

InPost’s revenue for the third quarter of 2021 more than doubled to 1.3 billion Polish zloty ($298 million). Sales were boosted by the company’s acquisition of French parcel delivery platform Mondial Relay, as well as further expansion in Poland. InPost also noted the speed of growth at its operations in the U.K. 

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