PE-backed Spie puts IPO on hold

Spie formally announced plans to list at the end of September. Trading was expected to begin on Euronext Paris on 10 October, with the subscription period for the IPO due to close on 9 October and pricing to take place on the same day.

The company had announced an indicative price range of €15-18.3 per share for the public offering, meaning the selling shareholders would have been able to raise up to €396.5m through the sale of their shares at the top end of the price range.

The IPO would have valued Spie in the region of €2.75bn, making it one of the largest French listings of recent years.

It is unclear at this stage whether the IPO has been pushed back or abandoned altogether. Spie stated that the listing had been "postponed" due to "volatile market conditions" in a statement released today, but didn't explicitely indicate if and when it would re-attempt to float.

According to French daily Les Echos, the offer was not fully subscribed as of 8 October, a day before the end of the offering period.

A number of factors could explain this lacklustre appetite, notably from overseas investors. These range from the disappointing performance of recently listed Zalando and Rocket Internet – which have lost between a fifth and a third of their market cap since listing earlier this month – to the IMF revising its growth forecasts for the main European economies, which have in turn impacted stock market stability.

Ardian declined to comment at this stage.

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• Topics
• France
• Exits
• Industrials
• France
• Clayton Dubilier & Rice
• Ardian (formerly Axa PE)
• IPO