BC-backed Springer Nature prepares IPO

Oscar Geen
28 November 2017

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BC Partners portfolio company Springer Nature has enlisted JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley to prepare an initial public offering, unquote" understands.

[Editor's note: BC Partners is the majority owner of Acuris, the parent company of unquote"]

The company plans to list on the Frankfurt stock exchange and is targeting a capital increase of €700-800m in a €4-5bn flotation, according to press reports.

BC Partners owns a 47% stake in the business alongside German publisher Holtzbrinck after the merger of its portfolio company Springer Science+Business Media with Holtzbrinck's Macmillan Science and Education in January 2015.

The GP acquired Springer Science+Business Media for an enterprise value of €3.3bn, supported by a €2.3bn debt package in June 2013. Previous owners EQT Partners and Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) had announced plans for an IPO shortly before the sale to BC.

Springer Nature employs 13,000 people and posted revenues of €1.62bn for 2016.

The European IPO market appears to have reopened somewhat this year, following a quiet 2016. With one month of the year remaining, there have already been 36 private-equity-backed flotations in 2017, compared to just 28 in the whole of 2016, according to unquote" data. Most recently, IK Investment Partners-backed Danish kitchen manufacturer TCM Group listed with a market cap of DKK 980m and VC-backed Danish biotechnology company Orphazyme floated with a market cap of DKK 1.6bn.

Another BC-backed company, motor insurance underwriter Sabre Insurance Group, is scheduled to float on the London stock exchange on 6 December with a market cap of £550-600m.