FRANCE - Wendel recoups EUR 1bn+ from Bureau Veritas IPO

Trading of the company's shares began on Euronext Paris this morning, following an IPO 10x oversubscribed by institutional investors. Initial trading has pushed the share price beyond its introductory price of EUR 37.75, which was at the top end of the range envisaged by Wendel. This share price equates to a market capitalisation for Bureau Veritas of EUR 4.04bn.

CGIP (which later became part of Wendel) had originally acquired a 34% stake in 1995, before buying out co-investor Poincaré Investissement for EUR 600m in 2004. The resulting detention of a 65.9% stake triggered a tender offer for the remainder of shares, which led to Wendel holding 99.37% of the company.

Following the IPO, the listed investment company retains 67.6% of shares, while existing minority stake-holders, staff and management keep a combined 5.4% shareholding.

Bureau Veritas generated sales of EUR 1.85bn in 2006, 33% of which are in France, and employs over 26,000 staff.

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