At the last minute Springer Nature cancelled the IPO of shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, citing “market conditions” and indicating they might try again at another time. A banker close to the deal told Reuters that many investors had become cautious after the poor performance of a number of European IPOs: “The new issue will have less liquidity. Given the poor performance of other IPOs, orders for Springer have been somewhat smaller than expected.” Orders were sufficient to allocate all of the shares, though in a strong IPO, orders will significantly exceed the shares being issued. Global Capital reports that […]
Finance
Springer Nature IPO to Price At Low End; Holtzbrinck Supports It with Additional Share Order
The Springer Nature IPO will officially price later in the day Tuesday, but the bookrunners were indicating only modest demand for shares and are expected to price the stock at 10.50 euros, the bottom end of their range, before shares start trading in Frankfurt on Wednesday. At that price, the offering should raise 1.2 billion euros in proceeds, which the publisher will use to pay down their debt load of approximately 3 billion euros. That would give their shares a market cap of 3.2 billion euros. On Friday, Holtzbrinck stepped in to support the offering after “demand fell short of […]
Lyntons Back New Publishing Acquisition Company, with Steinberger As CEO
Lezen Acquisition, an investment group led by Michael Lynton and his sister Lily Lynton, has bought Arcadia Publishing in the first of what they indicate will be a series of book publishing acquisitions. Former Perseus Books Group ceo David Steinberger is leading the new company as ceo, and Michael Lynton is nonexecutive chairman. “We intend to make other acquisitions, and that will give us scale,” Steinberger tells the WSJ. “If you can find the right publishers and bring them together, you can create a lot of value, because certain costs don’t rise proportionately with revenue.” Michael Lynton is currently chairman of […]
Controlling Stake In Waterstones Sold to Elliott Advisors
As has been expected since they initiated an exclusive negotiation period at the end of January, hedge fund Elliott Advisors has reached a deal to acquire and finance UK bookselling chain Waterstones, for undisclosed terms. They are financing the transaction — a good portion of which likely includes either the assumption, or repayment, of Waterstones’ debt of between 83 million and 139 million pounds — themselves. Current owner Alexander Mamut’s Lynwood Investments will retain a minority stake, however, and the deal is expected to close in early May. James Daunt will stay on as ceo of the chain. Head of […]
Springer Nature Sets IPO Range
Springer Nature announced that they expect to price their offering of shares to the public in a range of between €10.50 and €14.50 per share, still targeting a capital raise of €1.2 billion in gross proceeds, which they will use to pay down a portion of their debt. Current 53 owner Holtzbrinck has confirmed that it will purchase €100 million worth of additional shares in the offering. Current 47 percent BC Partners will sell up to a little over 13 million shares, depending upon the demand and final pricing. (Their sale allotment will not exceed 10 percent of the total shares […]
Springer Nature Formalizes Frankfurt IPO
In line with lengthy preparations, academic publisher Springer Nature formally announced plans to list shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, looking to raise approximately €1.2 billion in proceeds. Timing was not announced, but in Germany shares usually start trading four weeks after an IPO is announced. Holtzbrinck, currently a 53 percent owner, will retain all of their shares. Minority partner BC Partners, which owns 47 percent of the company, may “include a secondary placement” to sell some of their shares in the IPO, “depending on the market environment.” The proceeds from the offering will be used “to strengthen Springer Nature’s financial profile” — […]