Possible €4 billion IPO for Verallia

Reports suggest that private equity group Apollo is preparing Verallia for a stock market listing later this year, in what could become one of the largest French initial public offerings of the year. According to international news organisation Reuters, Apollo has asked banks to pitch for roles in organising the flotation, which could value Verallia at more than €4 billion.

So-called global co-ordinators are expected to be mandated by May for the IPO of Saint-Gobain’s former glass packaging division, in which Apollo acquired a controlling stake in 2015. The listing may happen in September or later, says Reuters.

Separately, Verallia announced the voluntary repayment last month of €150 million of its €1275 million Term Loan B facility, due in October 2022. This partial early repayment is in line with the group’s dynamic debt management strategy and was enabled by its solid cash flow generation. Verallia demonstrated the strength of its financial profile by reducing its net debt by €141 million to €1708 million and reaching an adjusted EBITDA leverage of 3.1x at end of 2018 (versus 3.7x at the end of year 2017).

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