Book building for institutional investors began on October 8 will be completed on October 21 with the final share price set on October 22 allowing the company to be listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange from October 31.

The holding company PKP SA is offering 21,669,007 shares for sale representing 50% minus one share of PKP Cargo's share capital. The maximum sale price will be Zlotys 74 ($US 23.73) per share which if achieved would value the company at Zlotys 3.2bn. PKP Cargo made a net profit of Zlotys 76.8m for the first six months of 2013, a reduction of more than 50% on the profit for the first half of 2012.

Employees of PKP Cargo will be allocated around 10% of the total shares and the remaining 40% placed on sale will be split between institutional and individual investors, with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development planning to buy at least a 5% stake. The Polish government will retain 50% plus one share of the equity, via PKP SA, giving it a majority stake. This is the first privatisation of a European train operator via an IPO.

There are several railfreight operators in Poland, of which PKP Cargo is the largest with a 60% market share by revenue. PKP Cargo carried 116.7 million tonnes of freight in 2012, with coal representing more than 40% of total traffic. PKP Cargo is also the second biggest railfreight operator in the European Union after DB Schenker Rail.

PKP Cargo has around 2450 locomotives and 64,000 wagons and operates across Europe either directly or in partnership with private and state-owned railfreight companies.