The majority shareholders in Dutch cableco Ziggo have sold an 18.5% stake in the company, raising gross cash proceeds of €915.75m (US$1.19bn).
Private equity firms Cinven Cable Investments and Warburg Pincus and co-investors placed 37 million ordinary…
The majority shareholders in Dutch cableco Ziggo have sold an 18.5% stake in the company, raising gross cash proceeds of €915.75m (US$1.19bn).
Private equity firms Cinven Cable Investments and Warburg Pincus and co-investors placed 37 million ordinary shares in the cableco, which listed on the NYSE Euronext Amsterdam in March, at €24.75 (US$32.18) per share, Ziggo confirmed this morning.
There is also an over-allotment option of an extra three million shares.
The shares were offered in an accelerated private placement to international and Dutch institutional investors.
Assuming the greenshoe option isn’t exercised, Cinven, Warburg Pincus and their co-investors will own a combined 77.2 million shares when the transaction closes – about 38.6% of the total capital. They have agreed not to dispose of any more shares in the 90 days following the transaction’s completion, subject to customary exceptions.
Ziggo expects final allocations will be communicated today and settlement will take place on Tuesday 30 October.
Initially, the shareholders planned to sell 25 million shares, with a further two million available in an over-allotment option, but upsized their offer last night as a result of “strong investor demand”, Ziggo said.
The majority shareholders sold 29 million ordinary shares, equal to a 14.5% stake, in the cableco on 31 July at €23.50 (US$28.88) per share, raising €681.5m (US$837.57m). They received a week-long waiver of the lock-up agreement following this sale to complete the latest one.
Based in Utrecht, Ziggo services about 2.9 million Dutch households. The cableco raised €925m (US$1.2bn) from its high-profile IPO in March.
