EuroGroup Laminations jumps 6% on Milan stock market debut

Eurogroup Laminations SpA

10/02/2023 08:58

By Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro and Elisa Anzolin
       LONDON/MILAN, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Shares in Italy's
EuroGroup Laminations  EGLA.MI , a maker of components for
electric motors, jumped more than 6% on their debut on the Milan
bourse on Friday in Europe's second major IPO so far this year.
    The shares opened at 5.50 euros ($5.91), the same price paid
by investors in the initial public offering, and were up 6.4% at
5.85 euros in early morning trading.
    The float raised as much as 432 million euros ($463.75
million) for EuroGroup and its shareholders, Euro Management
Services and Tikehau Capital.
    The listing of EuroGroup, which follows that of German
web-hosting firm IONOS earlier this week, was seen as a
potential icebreaker for the frozen IPO market. Deals dried up
last year as share prices plunged on dimming economic prospects
due to rising inflation and the war in Ukraine. 
    EuroGroup said earlier this week that the offering was
multiple times oversubscribed. 
    The company plans to invest the 250 million euros of fresh
capital raised through the listing into expanding its
geographical footprint and developing new technologies, as well
as potential "external growth opportunities".
    The deal was led by money managers who take long-term bets
on companies and who are returning as buyers of IPOs after
taking a step back last year, three sources close to the matter
said.
    Sovereign wealth funds also bought shares in the IPO, while
hedge funds got less than a quarter of the offer, one of the 
sources added.
    The market appreciated the company's exposure to the
electric vehicle sector, which counts for around 30% of group
revenues, two of the sources said.
    It is the biggest float in Italy since De Nora's IPO in June
last year, when the electrode maker braved markets to fetch a
valuation of 2.7 billion euros.
    Germany's IONOS priced its IPO at the bottom of the range
and saw its shares slide after its Frankfurt debut on Wednesday.
    JPMorgan, BNP Paribas, Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit acted
as global coordinators and joint bookrunners in EuroGroup's IPO.
($1 = 0.9309 euros)
($1 = 0.9315 euros)
 (Reporting by Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro in London and Elisa Anzolin
in Milan; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Susan Fenton)
 ((Pablo.MayoCerqueiro@thomsonreuters.com;))