(Bloomberg) -- Spanish bread and pastry maker Europastry SA is set to kick off its initial public offering in Spain, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Barcelona-based firm plans to announce the price range for the share sale as soon as Thursday and start taking investor orders a day later, the people said. It could have a valuation of as much as €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion), Bloomberg News reported earlier this year. Trading could start early next month, one of the people said.
Criteria Caixa SA, Spain’s largest investment holding company, is considering subscribing for shares in the IPO, the people said. Such a move is in-line with Criteria Caixa’s strategy in backing companies from Catalonia when they seek public listings. Europastry is based in Barcelona, the Catalan capital.
Deliberations are ongoing and details of the offering including timing could change, the people said. Representatives for Europastry and Criteria Caixa declined to comment.
European IPOs are seeing signs of revival after a summer lull. Springer Nature, the private equity-backed academic publisher, earlier this month started its IPO in Frankfurt and the order books have been fully covered. Beauty products maker Puig Brands SA, another family-run, Barcelona-based company, raised almost $3 billion in Europe’s biggest IPO this year.
The bulk of Europastry’s business is making partially baked breads and pastries, such as croissants, that it distributes frozen to clients such as supermarkets and bakers. Clients include Starbucks Corp., Dunkin’ and Pret a Manger. The company has 27 production plants in Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Romania, the US and Mexico. It put its listing plans on hold earlier this year amid volatile market conditions.
(Updates with more details in second paragraph.)
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