VC-backed NFon prices €166m IPO

Oscar Geen
10 May 2018

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VC-backed NFon has priced its initial public offering at €12 per share, corresponding to a market capitalisation of €166m.

In total, 6,708,331 shares were placed, including an overallotment of 874,999 shares. The total placement volume amounts to approximately €80.5m.

Milestone Venture Capital subscribed to a preferential allocation of 707,212 shares in order to retain a stake of 30.15% post-IPO.

Prior to the listing, more than 99% of the company's share capital was held by German VC firms. Milestone Venture Capital was the largest shareholder with 35.77%, followed by Earlybird Venture Capital with 34.48%, MIG with 13.29% across two different vehicles, Bayern Private Equity with 6.4%, High-Tech Gründerfonds with 4.88% and BayBG with 4.84%. Software provider ASC Technologies holds the remaining 0.34%.

There is also a €50m expansion capital element to the listing, raised through the issue of 4,166,666 new shares. NFon has earmarked €15-20m for regional expansion in Europe with a focus on France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. An additional €10-15m will be used for research and development, €10-15m for marketing, and €5-10m for pursuing M&A opportunities.

NFon shares will start trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on 11 May and the company expects a free float of 43.5%.

Berenberg is the sole global coordinator and is also mandated as joint bookrunner with Baader Bank and Oddo BHF.

NFon originally set its IPO price range on 24 April at €15.6-19.6 per share, but lowered the range to €11.9-14.0 due to capital market volatility. Elsewhere, BC Partners postponed the IPO of its portfolio company Springer Nature on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange this week after it looked set to price at the bottom of its range. A joint statement by Springer Nature's shareholders also cited market volatility as the reason for the withdrawal.

Company
Founded in 2007, NFon is a cloud-based telephone system for companies including banks, insurance providers, transport providers, and the food and beverage industry.

The company is headquartered in Munich, and has additional offices in Mainz and 13 other European countries. It employs 150 people and generated revenues of €35.7m in 2017 with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 0.5%. The company has recorded a compound annual revenue growth rate of 30% between 2015 and 2017.

People
NFon – Hans Szymanski (CEO).