BC-backed Springer Nature announces intention to float

Oscar Geen
12 April 2018

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BC Partners portfolio company Springer Nature has announced its intention to float on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, targeting proceeds of €1.2bn from the primary placement.

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

BC Partners may make a secondary placement of shares and will provide shares for a greenshoe option, according to a statement. Holtzbrinck Publishing Group intends to hold its entire 53% stake.

The business will be listed as a KGaA structure, which the company said will provide greater flexibility for raising new capital.

Springer generated EBITDA of €551m and adjusted operating income of €303m from revenues of €1.64bn in 2017. Net leverage will be reduced to 3.5x adjusted EBITDA following the transaction.

BC 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 had announced plans for an IPO shortly before the sale to BC.

Springer Nature publishes scientific, technical and medical titles in English, German and Dutch. It also supplies scientific and academic books and journals to customers in 120 countries worldwide. The company is headquartered in Berlin and employs 13,000 people.

JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs International and Societe Generale have been mandated as joint bookrunners.