France’s Antin Infrastructure sets IPO price range at 20-24 euros By Reuters

PARIS (Reuters) – French investment company Antin Infrastructure Partners will float its shares at a price range between 20 and 24 euros in its upcoming initial public offering (IPO), the company said on Wednesday.

The IPO involves a capital increase of about 350 million euros ($416 million) through the issuance of new shares as well as a limited sale of around 200 million euros worth of existing shares by the company’s co-founders.

Antin said the company would be worth between 3.5-4.1 billion euros after the IPO.

The IPO offer is due to start on Sept 15, and shares are expected to start trading on Sept 24.

The deal will help Antin, one of the world’s leading infrastructure investment firms with approximately 20 billion euros in assets under management, to accelerate growth and diversify its investment portfolio while also strengthening its brand.

Antin’s IPO comes after rival private equity firm Bridgepoint went public in July in a deal that saw its value rise by more than a fifth on its London stock market debut.

Other buyout funds including L Catterton – the private equity firm backed by French billionaire Bernard Arnault and luxury goods empire Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy – are considering tapping public markets at a time when private equity buyouts have hit record volumes with activity rising 152% in the first six months of the year to $512 billion, representing 18% of global M&A volumes.

J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) Europe are acting as Joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners. BNP Paribas (OTC:), Bank of America (NYSE:) Securities Europe and Citigroup (NYSE:) are acting as joint bookrunners.