Family-owned Hella plan to raise €278m in a stock market flotation—an Initial Public Offering—to fund international expansion and innovation. The German-based supplierhave placed about 11million shares with institutional investors at €25 per share. Trading is expected to start on 11 th November, and Hella will have a market value of €3.1bn if shares sell at the top of the target price range.
CEO Rolf Breidenbach says Hella “aim to expand our international footprint and invest in innovation in order to offer clients around the world even better solutions” with the money raised by the IPO. A future phase includes plans for a further private placement of up to 5.75 million shares from the holdings of family shareholders, Hella said, adding that the company would remain majority controlled by the current owners; the family is to retain control of 85% of Hella shares in the short term and 60% through at least 2024.
Hella, with 31,000 staff, generated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of €650m in their 2013-14 financial year, on sales of €5.34bn.
