COPENHAGEN: Denmark’s Nets will list in Copenhagen on Friday, four days earlier than planned, after attracting solid interest in its shares, the card payment services company said on Wednesday.
The book on shares in Scandinavia’s largest payments processor will close on Thursday at 0900 GMT.
“The early close of the offering is due to the aggregate demand from institutional and retail investors exceeding the expected allocation of offer shares,” Nets said in the statement. Nets has set an indicative price range for its planned initial public offering (IPO) that values the business at up to $4.8 billion.
The company said it expected to price the offering at 130-160 Danish crowns ($19.44-$23.93) per share, but has since narrowed the range to 145-160 crowns, according to local broadcaster TV2 citing sources close to the process.
An IPO has been on the cards since its 17-billion-crown acquisition by private equity firms Advent International and Bain Capital and Danish pension fund ATP in March 2014. Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley and Nordea have been appointed to act as joint global co-ordinators and joint bookrunners for the IPO.
It comes despite a troubled period for the Danish IPO market, which was rocked by the bankruptcy of ship fuel supplier OW Bunker seven months after its shares were listed in 2014.
Nets said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before special items rose 13 percent to 1.2 billion Danish crowns in the first six months of 2016 corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 33.4 percent.
British payments processor Worldpay Group WPG.L was listed on the London Stock Exchange in October 2015 with a valuation of 4.8 billion pounds ($6.34 billion).
