Italian filter maker GVS boosts European IPO market with stellar debut

GVS

19/06/2020 11:13

MILAN/LONDON, June 19 (Reuters) - Shares in Italian filter
maker GVS  GVS.MI  rose more than 20% in their stock market
debut on Friday, giving Europe's stuttering listings market a
boost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
    The deal, along with JDE Peet's  JDEP.AS  debut at the end
of May, also demonstrated that such deals can be completed
virtually, with visits of GVS premises replaced by video clips
of their factories, and management meetings conducted online. 
    The initial public offering (IPOs) is the first on the Milan
bourse's main market in 2020 and the second-biggest in Europe,
at 570 million euros ($639 million). 
    Shares in the family-owned company, which supplies
filtration solutions for the healthcare and automotive sectors,
rose 20.2% to 9.8 euros per share by 0930 GMT, after shares were
priced at 8.15 euros, valuing the firm at 1.43 billion euros.
    GVS, whose revenues have been boosted by stronger demand for
protective masks and filters for medical ventilators during the
pandemic, said that demand for its initial public offering was 6
times higher than the amount of shares offered. 
    U.S. Investment firm Capital Research and Management Company
agreed to buy a 9.3% of the offering before the IPO started and
to buy 3.26% of GVS capital afterwards. 
     Goldman Sachs and Mediobanca are the global coordinators of
the deal and Lazard is the financial adviser.
    ($1 = 0.8926 euros)

 (Reporting by Elisa Anzolin and Abhinav Ramnarayan; Editing by
Pravin Char)
 ((elisa.anzolin@thomsonreuters.com; 0039 0266129692;))