Luxury German carmaker Porsche could be valued at as much as £66billion when it floats on the Frankfurt stock exchange next week.
The Guardian says this would make it one of the largest European public offerings to date, according to the pricing of shares by parent company Volkswagen.
However, the figure is well below what some industry watchers were expecting earlier this year. There were reports in February that Porsche could be valued as high as £166billion.
Relatively few companies have listed shares in Europe this year as the region faces an energy crisis, high inflation and interest-rate hikes.
VW, which is planning to float 12.5% on September 29, has priced the shares in Porsche at between £67.14 and £72.41.
The valuation range, the midpoint of analysts’ expectations, will result in Volkswagen receiving up to £8.25billion.
The company has said it intends to use 49% of the proceeds to pay a one-off special dividend to shareholders, with the remainder to help fund the costly shift towards electric vehicles and battery technology.
911million shares
The listing will comprise 911million shares - a nod to the historic car brand’s most famous model, divided into 455.5million preferred shares and 455.5million ordinary shares.
Up to 113.8million of the preferred shares, carrying no voting rights, will be placed with investors in what will be Germany’s second largest initial public offering (IPO) to date.
If Porsche hits its upper-end valuation it will become Europe’s third-largest stock market float on record.
The sovereign wealth funds of Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Norway as well as the mutual fund company T Rowe Price will subscribe for preferred shares.
“We are now in the home stretch with the IPO plans for Porsche and welcome the commitment of our cornerstone investors,” said VW chief financial officer and chief operating officer Arno Antlitz.
As part of the partial float, the Porsche-Piëch families, who are VW’s anchor shareholders, will buy a further 12.5% of Porsche, at a premium of 7.5% on the price of the shares offered to the general public.
The families’ shareholding, which will rise to 25% plus one ordinary share, will carry voting rights.
FTSE 100
The UK’s top share index, the FTSE 100, was up 59 points at 7,295 shortly after opening this morning.
Brent crude futures were 0.32% higher at $92.29 a barrel.
Companies reporting today
- Half-year results: Haleon, Kingfisher
- Trading update: Moonpig Group