Sunrise Raises $2.2 Billion in Biggest Swiss IPO in Eight Years
(Bloomberg) — Sunrise Communications AG, Switzerland’s second-biggest wireless operator, raised 2 billion francs ($2.2 billion) in the biggest initial public offering on the country’s stock exchange in eight years.
The company and its shareholders sold 29.3 million shares at 68 francs a share, according to a statement today. That’s the midpoint of the original IPO price range of 58 to 78 francs, which was later narrowed to 65 to 70 francs.
The price values Sunrise at 3.1 billion francs. The phone company has said it plans to use the IPO proceeds to cut debt and strengthen its balance sheet. The IPO reduces CVC Capital Partners’s stake in the company, which previously was about 90 percent.
Competition is heating up in Switzerland where Swisscom AG, the dominant phone company, offers flat rates for mobile subscriptions for 59 francs to 169 francs a month. Billionaire Xavier Niel, known for sparking a cellular price war in France, agreed to buy third-place carrier Orange Switzerland for 2.8 billion francs in December. CVC agreed to pay 3.3 billion francs for Sunrise in 2010.
The IPO included 20 million new shares. The stock is due to start trading in Zurich today under the SRCG ticker.
Deutsche Bank AG and UBS AG were joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners for the IPO. Morgan Stanley and Berenberg were additional joint bookrunners, and Bank Vontobel AG was co- lead manager. Lilja & Co. is an independent adviser to CVC and Sunrise.
–With assistance from Zoe Schneeweiss in Zurich.
To contact the reporter on this story: Cornelius Rahn in Berlin at crahn2@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net Thomas Mulier, Kim McLaughlin
