It’s been a busy time for Ludgate Communications in continental Europe of late.
First up comes the IPO for Adidas, the German sports goods company, which kicked off on the roadshow trail in late October with stop-offs in Paris, Amsterdam, London and New York among others.
Ludgate beat off competition from Dewe Rogerson and Gavin Anderson to secure the financial communications contract on what is expected to be Germany’s second largest share offer this year. Ludgate’s work is focused on sell-side analysts and international media relations as well as the design and advertising brief for the offer. The total financial and public relations spend is believed to be in the region of 1 mn.
Joint leads UBS and Dresdner Bank are book-building in early November, with pricing scheduled for the middle of the month at a market cap range of DM3-3.5 bn. The offer has been evenly allocated between domestic and international investors, with the international tranche largely going to institutional interests.
Since winning the Adidas deal Ludgate has also been appointed by the French government to look after the international side of the privatisation of aluminium maker Pchiney.
The Ludgate crew clubbed together with French PR agency IS Conseil – a member of the Omnium group of companies – and advertising specialists Alice to win the deal in a final head-to-head with the rival team of Gavin Anderson and DDB Needham. Five advertising and PR/IR teams started out on the original pitch.
Ludgate will be primarily responsible for informing buy-side and sell-side analysts about the offer as well as for some of the international targeting process in tandem with lead banks BNP, Socit Gnrale and Goldman Sachs.
David Lis, a director at Ludgate in London, confirms that no firm date has been set for the Pchiney deal yet as this will depend on the fortunes of the franc and the French stock market. However, Lis says informed commentators believe it’s likely to happen before the Renault deal, which is being handled on the IR front by Gavin Anderson in Paris.
‘Adidas and Pchiney are very significant jobs for us – the biggest we’ve done overseas so far,’ says Lis. ‘Our appointment shows we have the experience to handle such work.’
