EI Completes Partial Exit of Harper Hygienics

Enterprise Investors has completed a partial divestment of Poland’s Harper Hygienics through an IPO on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The transaction, which consisted of just over 25% of Harpers, or 13 million shares, netted Enterprise’s Polish Enterprise Fund V a total of PLN 53.3 million at PLN 4.1 per share.

Enterprise has been invested in Harper’s since 2004, completing a full takeover in 2007. The company has elected to hold on to its remaining %74.6 stake for now. The vast majority of the new shares were purchased by institutional investors, while just 10% were acquired by their retail counterparts.

Harper Hygienics
Harper Hygienics is a skin care and personal hygiene company established in 1991. They make a variety of products like cotton swabs, cotton pads, and wet wipes for the Polish, Romanian, Russian, and Ukrainian markets.

For 2009 the company reported a net profit of more than PLN 18 million on total revenues of PLN 174 million, an increase of 20% over 2008. For the first five months of this year, net profit is up 36% and sales 24% over the same period last year.

Harper’s 500 dedicated employees work from their Warsaw-based production facility.

Enterprise Investors
Enterprise Investors was established in 1990 after the implementation of the U.S. government-funded Polish-American Enterprise Fund, an investment vehicle designed to provide equity funding for the Polish private sector. The firm has invested in excess of €1.3 billion in more than 100 projects in the last 20 years, while raising more than seven funds worth a combined total of €1.7 billion.

Enterprise Investors invests mainly in private, medium-sized business with an average horizon of three to seven years. Portfolio companies receive EI support in strategic planning, financial decision-making, and professional recruitment. EI prefers to stay away from day-to-day operations. While Polish investments are EI’s top priority, the firm looks at other potential projects that will help expand its reach in Central and Eastern Europe.