Intercontinental Exchange Group (ICE) has started the IPO of its Euronext unit, saying it expects a market valuation of as much as €1.75 bn ($2.4 bn) for the European exchange operator.
ICE is selling a stake of as much as 60.15 percent of Euronext, which it acquired when it bought NYSE Euronext last year, the company says in a statement on its website. The offering is held at between €19 and €25 a share and is expected to raise about €1.2 bn, including the 10 percent over-allotment.
The company says a group of institutional investors, including BNP Paribas, ABN Amro, Société Générale and others, is acquiring a stake of 33.36 percent of the company’s stock. Other shares are being offered to retail and institutional investors in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Portugal, along with private placements in the US and elsewhere.
The offer is scheduled to end on June 18 for retail investors and June 19 for institutional investors, with trading starting on June 20 on the Euronext markets of Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, the company says.
The IPO is expected to return Euronext to independence for the first time since 2007, when it was bought by the NYSE. The company says this will help it to build its exchange-traded funds franchise, focus more on market data products and continental equity derivatives, cut costs by streamlining processes, and achieve a dividend pay-out ratio of about 50 percent of its net income.
‘Euronext’s role in supporting the real economies of Europe will be further strengthened by our independence, and we believe we are well positioned to develop our markets across Europe by optimizing our underexploited businesses and repositioning as a leading capital-raising center,’ says Dominique Cerutti, CEO of Euronext, in the statement.
