ABB e-mobility private investors could become IPO cornerstones

The long-term equity strategy fund of Interogo Holding (IH), a foundation-owned international investment group based in Switzerland, as well as moyreal holding ag, a Swiss single-family office with a long-standing history in the automotive industry and advised by Helvetic Trust AG, were the main participants in the CHF 200m (EUR 203.7m) private placement, according to an announcement yesterday (21 November). ABB e-mobility chairman Michael Halbherr also participated in the placement, the statement said.

Talking about the rationale behind the investment, Richard Silén, managing director of IH Long-term Equity Advisors AB, the long-term equity arm of Interogo Holding AG, said: “We have followed the EV charging space for long time and believe that the need for strong EV charging infrastructure will only increase as the vehicle industry is undoubtedly focusing on electrification. We also think that ABB E-mobility is well positioned to play a key part in the transformation towards a more sustainable future. We look forward to working with ABB, the other co-shareholders and the management team”.

On the cornerstone involvement, he said Interogo does not "anticipate or speculate regarding any potential future investments.”

The deal was described by the sources as an intermediate step to finance growth while the company maintains the plan to list a minority stake of its e-mobility division on the Swiss SIX exchange next year, whose minimum free float requirement is 20%.

The sources agreed that the business’ growth trajectory still makes for a compelling equity story among investors, especially after updating its financial guidance earlier this year. Operating in a booming sector, it has struck several international acquisitions this year, with one source saying the company has spent more in R&D over the past few years than the entire revenue of many of its competitors.

Some of the proceeds from the placement will be used for M&A, with two sources saying the company has an active pipeline and has had several conversations with smaller software-centred targets in several countries.

The figures provided by the business give insight into an implied valuation of around CHF 2.5bn, which one source noted is lower than the initial ballpark figure of CHF 3bn people had talked about at IPO.

Family Affairs
A third source said a placement had been explored at the end of the summer and, due to the strong interest recorded, management decided it would make sense to do a deal to pave the way for the IPO.

One of the sources said the company was keen to keep investors warm and that the family offices had been engaged in prior discussions around the listing. They were ready to follow through as pre-IPO investors and potentially at the time of a listing as cornerstone or anchor investors. The source added that the company has not opened such discussions to a wide group of potential investors.

“The IPO was announced almost a year ago and, with the postponement, at some point you just have to go on with your strategy,” this source said, adding that it is likely the IPO won’t come in the first available window of 2023, but slightly later to keep sufficient distance from the placement as the norm.

“There are a few quarters in between and this is their opportunity to reset valuations,” the source added.

Family offices are increasingly influential players in equity capital markets, the second source said, having steered IPOs this year of the likes of Industrie De Nora, which secured two cornerstone investors in the form of the Garrone Mondini family and the family office of Ruthi Wertheimer, which pledged at launch to invest up to EUR 100m each in that transaction.

The company has also had to fund a shareholder loan repayment of CHF 100m this year, two sources said, which brought the total funding of the business from CHF 700m to circa CHF 650m.

ABB declined to comment. Moyreal Holding AG did not respond to a request for comment.

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