Poland’s Treasury intends to find a sector investor for state-owned property group PHN in late 2013 and reduce its stake in the group to some 20-25%, as the government seeks funds to help finance the budget deficit.

"The strategic goal is to find a sector investor in the second stage, i.e. yet in 2013," Treasury Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski said on Wednesday. "Our goal is to exit the company as a result of the process, which will last throughout 2013."

The government resumed plans to sell PHN, which estimates its net value of assets at 1.75 billion zloty, after shares of real-estate developers rebounded last year.

Poland hopes to find an investor in the fall or in the winter and will most likely end up with a minority stake in 2013 before exiting completely, deputy Treasury Minister Pawel Tamborski said in turn.

"The most preferred scenario is that we remain the minority shareholder at PHN with a stake at 20-25%," he said. "It would be a small enough stake for us not to wield operating control but big enough to keep veto power."

The government is selling up to 10.8 million shares of PHN or 25% of the firm at a maximum price for retail investors of PLN 26 per share in an IPO kicking off on Wednesday and with WSE debut slated by February 13, a prospectus published on the company’s website on Wednesday showed. The final price will be set on Feb. 4, when bookbuilding for institutional investors ends.

The majority shareholder committed to a 360-day lock-up period, but the restriction does not pertain to the sale of shares to a strategic investor at a price no lower than in the IPO, the prospectus showed.

Book-building for institutional investors started on Wednesday, January 23. Subscription in the institutional tranche will last from February 5 to February 7. Subscription in the retail tranche will last from January 24 to February 1.

Poland had said it wished to sell an up to 25% stake in PHN in the IPO and would later consider selling a stake to an industry investor, Minister Budzanowski told PAP as recently as January 16. Some 15-20% of shares were to go to retail investors with no price preferences for that group, deputy Treasury Minister Pawel Tamborski told PAP on January 18.

PHN is a 100% state-owned commercial real estate group and one of the biggest managers of commercial and residential real estate in Poland.

PHN's real estate portfolio as of end-October 2012 was valuated at PLN 2.1 bln, the prospectus showed.