Numericable raises €652m in IPO

Greg Gille
08 November 2013

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Cinven- and Carlyle-backed Numericable has made its debut on the NYSE Euronext Paris with a €3bn market cap.

Shares started trading at €24.8 apiece, the top of the offer range. The IPO gave Numericable a €3bn market cap, with net debt of €2.75bn bringing enterprise value to £5.75bn. Share price rose by more than 10% on the first day of trading, with shares trading at €28.07 (€3.49bn market cap) at the time of writing.

Numericable raised around €652m as part of the IPO before the exercise of the over-allotment option. According to the company, the offer was 10x oversubscribed.

Pre-IPO, Cinven and Carlyle both owned stakes of around 37%, while Altice held a 24% stake.

Cinven is standing to reap a 4x money multiple on its overall investment in Numericable, according to a source close to the situation. This takes into account the GP's remaining stake in the business as well as the returns generated on previous transactions. Cinven's capital gain at the time of the IPO was equivalent to €1.4bn. The private equity house retains a 20.4% stake in Numericable.

Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan acted as global coordinators, listing agents and joint bookrunners on the IPO. Fellow joint bookrunners included Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC and Morgan Stanley. Jefferies, Nomura and Oddo were joint lead managers.

In a positive day for European IPOs, Blackstone- and CVC-backed Merlin Entertainments also listed on the London Stock Exchange, with shares priced at £3.15 apiece, valuing the business at £3.2bn. Share price also increased by more than 10% on the first day of trading.

Previous funding
Cinven and telecoms company Altice acquired Numericable in April 2005 for €528m, €350m of which was provided as debt by BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank, according to unquote" data. Cinven bought a 50.01% stake in the company, while Altice took a 10.01% shareholding. The remaining shares were held equally by France Télécom and Canal+ Group.

Cinven and Altice then acquired a 55% stake in listed company Completel in August 2007 for approximately €723m. In December of the same year, Carlyle bought a 35% stake in the business at the same time that it acquired a 35% stake in Numericable from Cinven. According to unquote" data, the GP paid €700m for its stake in Numericable and paid more than €1bn overall for its stakes in both businesses. Carlyle took control of 21% of Altice's stake and 14% of Cinven's in Completel.

The deals gave both businesses a joint value of €2.86bn. In January 2008, the consortium embarked on a buyout of Completel to take it fully private. Numericable was granted permission from its lenders to merge with Completel before listing.

Company
Numericable is a cable operator, providing television packages, internet and telephone services. It was founded in 1995 and is based in Paris. The company recorded turnover of €874m for 2012, as well as an EBITDA of €456m.