CVC to sell 32.5% stake in bpost IPO

Ellie Pullen
07 June 2013

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CVC Capital Partners plans to sell a stake of up to 32.5% in the IPO of bpost at a price of €14.5 per share.

The IPO's final share price will give CVC returns of up to €812m. The firm currently holds a 50%-minus-one stake in the company.

Bpost has stated that, should the IPO be oversubscribed, an additional nine million shares will be put up for sale by CVC. A further 6.4 million shares are also being offered in the Japanese public offering. If all options are implemented and the offered shares are fully sold, a total of 56 million shares will be floated and CVC will retain a shareholding of approximately 17.3%.

Unquote" previously reported on bpost's 20% reservation of stock specifically for retail investors. The company has confirmed that slightly more than 20% of the offering has been sold to retail investors.

Approximately 924,000 shares have been sold, separately from the offering, to bpost staff under the employee share purchase plan. The company's employees were originally offered 5.5 million shares.

The IPO values bpost at €2.9m. The company's shares are expected to start trading on the NYSE Euronext Brussels on 21 June under the symbol "BPOST".

Previous funding
CVC first invested in bpost in January 2006 for €300m, according to unquote" data. In 2009, the firm bought Post Danmark's stake in the business for €373m.

Company
State-backed Belgian postal service bpost employs 30,000 staff and was known as De Post-La Poste until 2010. The company reported a turnover of €2.4bn for 2012, as well as an EBITDA of €502m.

People
Johnny Thijs is bpost's CEO. CVC managing partner Geert Duyck sits on bpost's board of directors along with CVC partner Søren Vestergaard-Poulsen.

Advisers
Company – JP Morgan (Joint global coordinator, joint international bookrunner); Nomura (Joint global coordinator, joint international bookrunner); BNP Paribas Fortis (Joint global coordinator, joint Belgian bookrunner); Morgan Stanley (Joint international bookrunner); UBS (Joint international bookrunner); KBC (Joint Belgian bookrunner); ING (Joint Belgian bookrunner); Royal Bank of Canada (Joint lead manager); Belfius (Joint lead manager); Petercam (Co-lead manager); Bank Degroof (Co-lead manager).