Luz Saude owner seeks over $330 mln in Lisbon IPO - sources
02/06/2023 15:38
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Deal could happen as early as 2023
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Listing would be major win for Lisbon
By Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro and Sergio Goncalves
LONDON/LISBON, June 2 (Reuters) - Fidelidade is set to
raise at least 300 million euros ($330 million) by selling a
minority stake in its healthcare arm Luz Saude, two people
familiar with the matter said, in what could be Portugal's
biggest initial public offering (IPO) in a decade.
The insurer, backed by China's Fosun International
0656.HK , is pondering whether to sell any new shares as part
of the offering to help expedite Luz Saude's growth, said the
people, who requested anonymity as deliberations are private.
It aims to launch the IPO this year or in the first half of
2024, depending on market conditions, with Euronext Lisbon as
the preferred listing venue, the people said.
A deal would help to heal Europe's bruised IPO market,
although rising interest rates and economic uncertainty make the
path to a listing uncertain. No final decisions have been made,
and plans could yet be altered or dropped, the people added.
Fidelidade declined to comment. Luz Saude and Fosun did not
respond to a request for comment.
Reuters first reported last month that Fidelidade was
sounding out banks to manage a stock market listing of Luz Saude
that could value the company around 1 billion euros, despite
sluggish IPO markets.
The insurance group has since appointed Citigroup C.N and
UBS UBSG.S as global coordinators and Portugal's Caixa Banco
de Investimento as joint bookrunner, the people said.
It is in advanced discussions to draft local lender
Millennium BCP and Germany's Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe - both also
backed by Fosun - as co-lead managers, they said, adding further
banks may still join the syndicate.
U.S. corporate finance house Evercore EVR.N is
Fidelidade's financial adviser, one of the people added.
Evercore and UBS declined to comment. The remaining banks
did not respond to a request for comment.
For Portugal, whose main bourse has not seen any new
listings since 2021, a return of Luz Saude to the stock exchange
would be a major win, making it the biggest domestic flotation
since Correios de Portugal CTT.LS in 2013.
Local lender Novo Banco, backed by investment manager Lone
Star, has also voiced an ambition to go public in the medium
term.
($1 = 0.9084 euros)
(Reporting by Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro in London and Sergio
Goncalves in Lisbon; Additional reporting by Andres Gonzalez in
London; Editing by John O'Donnell and Mark Potter)
((Pablo.MayoCerqueiro@thomsonreuters.com;))