RPT-Textile firm Pegas plans IPO in Prague, Warsaw

(Repeats story published late on Monday)

PRAGUE, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Luxembourg-registered textile maker Pegas Nonwovens, which manufactures in the Czech Republic, is planning an initial public offering (IPO) on the Prague and Warsaw bourses in the coming weeks, the firm said on Monday.

The company, which supplies to makers of diapers and other hygiene products, said it wanted to offer new stock as well as shares held by Pamplona, the private investment fund that owns almost all of the company. Pegas management holds a small stake in the firm.

The firm's media representative Vladimir Bystrov told Reuters Pamplona would keep majority control after the planned IPO, but he declined to give further details about the offering.

He said the cash raised would be invested in new technology, including a new 40 million euro production line to be completed next year.

The new line will raise production capacity of non-woven textiles to 70,000 tonnes, according to the company's Web site.

Pegas's production unit had net profit of 535.8 million crowns ($25.11 million) in 2005 on sales of 3.38 billion, according to filings with the commercial registry.

The company aims to complete the IPO by the end of this year.

The share prospectus is due for release around Dec. 4.

"We are convinced that the transaction will enable us to develop and grow further, and strengthen our position as a technology leader in our modern and fast-developing sector," Chief Executive Milos Bogdan said in a statement.

The firm, founded in 1990, said it was the second-biggest European maker of non-woven textiles, with about an 11 percent share of the European market in June.

Global co-ordinator and bookrunner for the IPO is ING Bank in London. ((Reporting by Marek Petrus and Jan Korselt

Editing by Will Waterman

Reuters Messaging: rm://marek.petrus.reuters.com@reuters.net

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tel: +420 224 190 477)) ($1=21.34 Czech Crown)

Keywords: CZECH PEGAS/