3i cuts further stake in Norma after placing
UK private equity firm 3i sold €77m (£61m) of shares in German engineering firm Norma Group to institutional investors yesterday – taking its stake from 73 per cent to 16.7 per cent in just 18 months.
3i announced it had placed four million shares for a price of €19.25 per share with investors. The news prompted Norma to fall from €19.95 to €18.84 on the Frankfurt stock exchange. It ended the day at €19.
3i, which invests in mid market private equity, infrastructure and debt management, maintains its position as Norma’s biggest shareholder with an aggregate holding of 16.7 per cent.
It floated Norma onto the market last April with a €669m market cap, taking its share in the company down from 73 per cent to 31 per cent – a 46 per cent reduction.
The latest move follows the same trend and reduces its ownership of the company by a further 46 per cent.
Norma was formed in 2006 through the merger of German firm Rasmussen Group and the Swedish company ABA Group.