LONDON/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s biggest cable television firm Kabel Deutschland on Monday published a prospectus for its 700 million euros ($958 million) initial public offering, making a trade sale very unlikely.
A series of failed IPOs in the last three months have lowered expectations of strong investor demand for public equity sales.
Private equity players have speculated, even after KDG announced its IPO plan on Feb. 23, that the deal could turn into a last-minute trade sale with the planned flotation acting as a smokescreen.
When German peer Unitymedia was sold to Liberty Global (LBTYA.O) in November the company’s planned IPO had not yet reached the stage of a published prospectus.
KDG has now announced, via a prospectus, that existing shareholders including private equity firm Providence aim to raise 700 million euros by offering up to 45 million secondary shares. A further 6.75 million shares would be offered in a potential overallotment offering – otherwise known as a “greenshoe option”.
KDG shares will begin trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Mar. 19. (Reporting by Daisy Ku; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
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