IPO fever returns to Europe as Ziggo and DKSH go public
BIG European stock market listings have made a strong comeback after almost eight months without a major deal, suggesting that investors may be overcoming fears of a Eurozone collapse.
Yesterday Swiss trading house DKSH sold 17.1m shares – equivalent to a third of its equity – for the highest expected price, raising 821m Swiss francs (£690m) for its founders.
This feat is set to be repeated by Dutch cable firm Ziggo when it begins trading today. It has priced its offering at €18.50 per share, raising around €800m (£667m) for its founder shareholders.
In contrast to 2011, when many firms where forced to pull IPOs due to lack of investor interest, or slash their offer prices to get the sale away, Zippo and DKSH were able to close the order books on their flotation early.
Both deals have heavyweight backing from major investment banks but the defining factor for the future health of the IPO market will be how well the pair trade after flotation: DKSH finished its first day of trading at SFr51.40, nearly seven per cent above its offer price.
DKSH, which lists the likes of Nestle, Roche and GlaxoSmithKline among its clients, specialises in assisting firms expand into growing Asian markets. It traces its roots back to the 1860s when three Swiss entrepreneurs sailed to Asia and built a reputation as reliable business partners.
Ziggo’s shares will be floated in Amsterdam where it is one of the two main cable operators, providing TV and internet services to about half of all Dutch households.
ADVISERS: DKSH
JOSEF RITTER
DEUTSCHE BANK
Deutsche Bank’s Josef Ritter led the team that pushed through the DKSH deal. He began his career at the bank in 1990, rising to become co-head of the firm’s EMEA equity capital markets business. After a brief spell at Citigroup he returned to Deutsche in 2007, and has since been involved with deals such as rival German firm Commerzbank’s $11.4bn rights issue. Deutsche has also helped with SanPaolo’s $7.1bn issue and Banco Popolare’s $2.7bn offering. Ritter’s team were assisted as joint global co-ordinators by UBS.
ADVISERS: ZIGGO
JP MORGAN & MORGAN STANLEY
JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have been working together as the joint global coordinators for Ziggo’s IPO. JP’s team is led by Karen Simon, along with David Lomer, Klaus Hessberger and Greg Chamberlain. They have previously worked on Porsche’s $7.2bn issue and Commerzbank’s $7.7bn offerings in 2011, in addition to assisting Tony Hayward’s Vallares vehicle. Morgan Stanley’s team was led by Henrik Gobel – renowned for along with Burkhard Koep and Scott Matlock.