CVC-backed Sunrise plans CHF 1.35bn IPO

The company expects to generate gross proceeds of CHF 1.35bn in order to reduce its debt burden to 2.7x EBITDA. At the time of the €3.3bn buyout in September 2010, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and UBS provided a CHF 2.3bn senior debt package to finance the transaction. CVC supplied the remaining €1bn in equity from its CVC European Equity Partners V Fund, according to unquote" data.

CVC will also make further shares available as part of a greenshoe option. This would increase the IPO size by 15% if exercised in full.

Sunrise has committed to paying a shareholder dividend of CHF 135m in 2016. It also plans to return excess cash to shareholders once debt hits 2.5x EBITDA.

Sunrise says its decision to conduct a SIX listing demonstrates its commitment to the Swiss market and that proceeds will also be used to further its strategy of investing in new integrated mobile and fixed network technology.

The company, founded in 2001, had revenues of CHF 2bn and EBITDA of CHF 621m for the year ending 30 September 2014. It serves 3.3 million customers in Switzerland with mobile, landline, internet and TV packages. It claims to have a 27% market share in the Swiss mobile market and a 9% share in fixed broadband.

During Q2 and Q3 2014, revenues grew 3.8% and EBITDA grew 4.6% on the previous year. This contributed to an estimated revenue and EBITDA increase to the end of December 2014 of around 3% on the previous year.

Deutsche Bank and UBS are acting as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the IPO, with Morgan Stanley and Berenberg acting as additional joint bookrunners. Bank Vontobel is co-lead manager, while Lilja & Co will provide corporate finance advice to CVC and Sunrise.

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• Topics
• DACH
• Exits
• Consumer
• Switzerland
• CVC Capital Partners
• IPO