(Bloomberg) -- Shares in Springer Nature AG & Co. rose as much as 9.6% on their debut in Frankfurt, delivering a much-needed win for Europe’s equity capital markets.
The BC Partners-backed publisher of academic journals was trading at €24.37 per share at 11:38 a.m. local time Friday, valuing the company at close to €4.9 billion ($5.4 billion) following the region’s first sizable initial public offering after the summer break. Springer Nature priced its IPO at €22.50, just above the middle of the targeted range.
The listing’s success stands in contrast to Germany’s biggest IPO for the year, perfume retailer Douglas AG, which tumbled 11% in its inaugural session in March and has since widened losses to 24%.
The deal benefited from elevated stock prices, the start of US interest rate cuts and economic stimulus in China, Thomas Schweigl, ECM managing director at Deutsche Bank AG, one of the IPO’s global coordinators, said in emailed comments.
“The transaction window was well-timed, with sufficient buffer to the US elections,” Schweigl said.
Springer Nature’s intention to float kick-started second-half IPO activity in Europe after market volatility and the summer break brought a revival in dealmaking this year to an early close. Companies in the region have raised nearly $17 billion through first-time share sales so far this year, an increase of more than 40% from the same period in 2023, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Springer Nature raised around €522 million for itself and BC Partners, making it Frankfurt’s second-largest listing for 2024. Banks may sell an additional 3.5 million shares over the coming weeks through an over-allotment option.
The IPO attracted around 150 orders from institutional investors, with demand for the shares exceeding the stock on offer by a high single-digit multiple, Bloomberg News has reported.
The debut marks the culmination of the company’s efforts to go public following previous attempts in recent years. It also comes as other European companies are trying to go public before markets quiet down as the earnings season and US presidential election near.
“It’s a great vote of confidence by a global investor base,” Springer Nature Chief Executive Officer Frank Vrancken Peeters told Bloomberg.
Polish convenience store giant Zabka Group SA leads October’s IPO hopefuls, as investors including CVC Capital Partners Plc are seeking to raise as much as $1.7 billion in Warsaw’s biggest first-time share sale since 2020. Spain’s Europastry SA and the UK’s Applied Nutrition Ltd. could also go public before the US vote.
(Updates share price, adds quotes from Springer Nature CEO and Deutsche Bank. A previous version of the story corrected the date in the photo caption.)
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