CVC's Ahlsell valued at SEK 20bn in IPO

Ahead of the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm IPO, Ahlsell had set a share price range of SEK 45-58, but was introduced at SEK 46 apiece, generating a total value of up to SEK 6.9bn at a market cap of SEK 20bn.

Despite the low-end pricing, Ahlsell is still one of the largest IPOs in Stockholm since national Swedish telecoms firm Telia was floated with a market cap of €9bn in 2000. CVC's portfolio company becomes the second largest Nordic private equity IPO of 2016, after the DKK 30bn listing of Nordic payments provider Nets in Copenhagen by Advent, Bain and ATP in September; and the third largest Nordic private-equity-backed IPO since the turn of the century, after Nets and Pandora.

The listing saw around 131 million shares – approximately 30% of the company's total share capital – put in free float by CVC alongside current and former management and board members. Ahlsell's free float could increase to as much as 34.5%, providing the overallotment option is exercised in full, which would bring the total number of tradable shares to 150.5 million. The company claimed the offer was "oversubscribed multiple times".

CVC will remain the largest single shareholder in Ahlsell post-IPO, holding around 60.4% of the total shares, provided there is a full take-up of the greenshoe, while management and board members will have a 5.1% stake.

Goldman Sachs, Nordea, Carnegie, Danske Bank, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan and UBS acted as joint bookrunners, while Goldman Sachs and Nordea were joint global coordinators. ABG Sundal Collier, DNB Markets and SEB were the co-lead managers.

Previous funding
The IPO brings to an end nearly two decades of private equity ownership for Ahlsell. CVC acquired Ahlsell in February 2012 in a €1.8bn SBO from Cinven and Goldman Sachs, which in turn had bought it from Nordic Capital for around €1.28bn in 2006. Nordic Capital acquired Ahlsell in 1999 as part of the carve-out of four subsidiaries of Swedish industrial conglomerate Trelleborg in what was considered to be the largest ever Swedish private equity transaction at the time.

Company
Founded in 1877, Ahlsell is a distributor of plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning supplies, as well as tools. It has outlets across the Nordic region, Estonia, Poland and Russia.

In the 12 months to 30 September 2016, Ahlsell posted SEK 23.7bn of revenue and adjusted EBITDA of SEK 2.1bn.

People
Ahlsell – Johan Nilsson (CEO).

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