Swedish cableco Com Hem has raised Skr5.67bn (US$854m) after its initial public offering of stock priced at the upper end of its price range.
Investors snapped up Com Hem’s 97.7 million of new shares for Skr58 (US$8.74) apiece, at the higher end of…
Swedish cableco Com Hem has raised Skr5.67bn (US$854m) after its initial public offering of stock priced at the upper end of its price range.
Investors snapped up Com Hem’s 97.7 million of new shares for Skr58 (US$8.74) apiece, at the higher end of the previously announced Skr44-62 (US$6.63-9.34) range.
The float leaves Com Hem with a market capitalisation of Skr11.5bn (US$1.73bn) and dilutes private equity owner BC Partners’ stake in the company down to 50%.
Com Hem said the offering was oversubscribed several times and attracted strong interest from institutional investors as well as Swedish retail investors.
Nikos Stathopoulos, managing partner at BC Partners, commented: “The strong demand to participate in Com Hem’s IPO is testament to the company’s quality and long-term growth prospects and we look forward to continuing to support Com Hem as a listed company.”
JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Nordea, who acted as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners, have the option to exercise an overallotment option.
Should they do so it would see a further 9.7 million shares issued, which would raise another Skr567m (US$85.4m) and take the full value of the IPO to Skr6.24bn (US$940m).
If the option is taken up in full then BC Partners stake will fall down to 47.7%.
Proceeds from listing on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm will help the cableco cut debt and increase its financial flexibility.
It is aiming for a net leverage of around 3.9x net debt/ LTM underlying EBITDA by 30 June 2014 if the green shoe is tapped, or 4.15x if it is not.
This will partly be achieved through redeeming senior PIK notes that are due to have Skr2.76bn (US$413.11m) outstanding as of 30 June, and 35% of senior notes that will have Skr2.61bn (US$3.90m) outstanding by then. It also aims to repay a senior credit facility that is set to have Skr6.23bn (US$931m) outstanding, and any remaining proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
The private equity firm bought the business in 2011 from fellow PE firms Carlyle and Providence for €1.7bn (US$2.3bn). It is Sweden’s largest cableco and is connected to 39% of Sweden’s households, offering triple play services.
