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BC Partners-backed Springer Nature is targeting a valuation of as much as €4.7bn in a delayed flotation in Frankfurt in October that is set to test the appetite for fundraising on Europe’s public markets.
The Berlin-headquartered academic research publisher said on Monday that it would price its initial public offering at €21.00 to €23.50 per share, implying a market capitalisation of between €4.2bn and €4.7bn. The first day of trading is planned for October 4.
Holtzbrinck Publishing Group and BC Partners own 53 per cent and 47 per cent, respectively, of the publisher of journals such as Nature and Scientific American. Privately owned Holtzbrinck is not selling any of its shares in the IPO.
Springer Nature confirmed plans for a €200mn capital increase to reduce its debt, as well as the sale of shares held by BC Partners. The company is expected to have a free float of between 11.7 to 13.5 per cent after the IPO in Frankfurt. Group revenues were €1.9bn and adjusted operating profit was €511mn in 2023.
Springer Nature delayed a previous IPO plan in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and joins a growing list of companies queueing to tap into a rebound of investor interest in backing the launch of public companies.
Private equity groups have in particular sought to take advantage of investor appetite to exit their holdings, with flotations earlier this year of German beauty retailer Douglas, owned by private equity company CVC, and dermatology group Galderma, controlled by Swedish buyout group EQT.
On Monday, CVC said it would float Żabka, Poland’s largest chain of convenience stores, in what is expected to be one of the biggest European IPOs this year. Żabka anticipates a valuation of between $7bn and $8bn, according to people familiar with the listing plan.
Money raised from European IPOs in the first half of 2024 more than quadrupled compared with the same period last year, according to PwC analysis, with 23 IPOs in Europe in the second quarter alone raising €6.6bn.
The IPO market has been buoyed by falling interest rates, with a backlog of companies whose flotations were delayed during a two-year slump in activity now coming to the market.
These included the €2.6bn IPO of fashion company Puig Brands in Spain and the €2bn IPO of CVC on the Euronext Amsterdam.
Frank Vrancken Peeters, chief executive of Springer Nature, said that the “interest from investors that we have seen so far [was] a strong vote of confidence for the value we provide to the communities we serve, our resilient business model and our sustainable growth momentum”.
Additional reporting by Raphael Minder in Warsaw
https://www.ft.com/content/6246379d-d829-4855-8b0e-22a98cf93355
