PE-backed Verallia floats with €3.2bn market cap

The IPO priced at the bottom of the €26.50-29.50 range set by the company on 23 September.

The listing sees 32,900,819 existing shares sold by the selling shareholders, including 31,051,183 by Horizon Parent Holdings, 1,523,631 by the managers and 326,005 by the co-investors. This amount may be increased to 36,211,933 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full.

Proceeds from the sale of existing shares amounted to €888m. These included €838m sold by Horizon Parent Holdings, which is 90% owned by AIF VII Euro Leverage, an investment fund managed by an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, and 10% owned by BPI France Participations; €41m by certain managers of the Group; and €9m by certain co-investors. 

This amount may be increased up to €978m if the over-allotment option granted by Horizon Parent Holdings is exercised in full.

Trading of Verallia shares will begin on the regulated market of Euronext Paris, compartment A, on 4 October 2019. Settlement and delivery of the public offering and the international private placement is scheduled on 7 October 2019.

The group targets an organic growth of its consolidated revenue of  6-8% in 2019, and to generate an adjusted EBITDA of approximately €610m, according to a statement by the company published in September. The group has also recorded a reduction in its net financial debt and its ratio of external net financial debt to adjusted EBITDA since 2016 (4.2x as of 31 December 2016, compared to 3.1x as of 31 December 2018, and 2.7x expected for 31 December 2019).

Previous funding 
Apollo and BPI France bought stakes of 90% and 10% respectively in Verallia, a division of French construction group Saint Gobain, for an enterprise value of €2.9bn in 2015. To this day, the transaction is the country's largest PE-backed LBO since the financial crisis. At the time, Verallia generated a turnover of €2.4bn, posting EBITDA of around €400m. 

Company 
With origins dating back to 1827, Verallia is a producer of glass packaging for food and beverages. It produced nearly 16 billion bottles and glass jars last year for various markets, including wine, spirits, food, beer and soft drinks, according to a statement. The group achieved sales of €2.4bn in 2018 and has an industrial presence in 11 countries. It employs 10,000 people.

People
Verallia - Michel Giannuzzi (president, CEO).

Advisers
Vendors - BNP Paribas, Citigroup,  Deutsche Bank (global coordinators, joint lead managers, joint bookrunners); Banco Santander, Barclays, Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Credit Suisse, Societe Generale (joint lead managers, joint bookrunners); Apollo Global Securities, Raiffeisen Centrobank (co-joint lead managers).

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