WARSAW, April 26 (Reuters) - Poland's Securities Commission cleared six domestic companies for listing on Monday amid a new wave of initial public offerings due to take place in the Warsaw Stock Exchange this year.
The six firms include leading educational publisher Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pedagogiczne (WSiP) -- the first state-owned company to be listed in four years and the second-largest major Polish publisher to be publicly quoted after Agora .
Poland wants to sell 30-60 percent of WSiP to institutional investors before floating 25-35 percent of the company, which has a third of the school textbooks market. Its total market value is estimated at 300-400 million zlotys ($75-100 million).
The commission also cleared two car parts traders, Inter Cars and JC Auto, edible oils maker Elstar Oils, clothes retailer Artman and hygiene products firm Hygienika.
The listings, aimed at raising funds for expansion after Poland joins the European Union this week, are expected to be worth between $10-20 million each.
Companies considering listing in Warsaw hope to benefit from a months-long rally on central Europe's biggest stock market and large demand from local funds seeking to diversify portfolios.
This also reflects a wider trend in Europe's major exchanges whose initial public offerings market has also been recovering this year amid rising stock prices and economic recovery.
According to a recent survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Europe saw almost four times more IPOs in the first three months of 2004 than in the same period of 2003. By the end of the year the Polish government wants to float minority stakes in top lender PKO Bank Polski, leading power generation group PKE, natural gas monopoly PGNiG and home appliances maker Zelmer.
There are over 200 companies currently listed on the Warsaw bourse, whose total capitalisation stands at around $50 billion.