The British bootmaker’s owner Permira Holdings and other shareholders sold 350-million existing shares at 370p apiece
29 January 2021 - 11:53
bySwetha Gopinath
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A pair of Dr Martens boots in London, Britain. Picture: REUTERS/SIMON NEWMAN
London — Dr Martens owner Permira Holdings and other shareholders raised £1.3bn through the British bootmaker’s initial public offering (IPO), London’s largest domestic listing since September.
The sale of 350-million existing shares were priced at 370p apiece, the top end of an initial range, the company said in a statement on Friday. The new stock will make its debut on Friday in London, with about 35% of the company’s shares available for trading.
The IPO values Dr Martens at £3.7bn, which is more than 10 times the £300m Permira paid for the bootmaker in 2014. Dr Martens’ is the largest IPO in London by a UK company since online shopping emporium THG raised £1.88bn in September 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Griggs family, which sold Dr Martens to Permira, and employees and directors of the company were also offered shares in the IPO. They can sell another 53-million shares if there’s enough demand, which would increase the size of the offering to £1.49bn.
Several other IPO candidates are taking advantage of a lockdown-fueled online shopping boom. Poland’s InPost, which operates automated parcel lockers, soared in its Amsterdam trading debut on Wednesday, while virtual greeting-card company Moonpig Group and used-car platform Auto1 Group are taking investor orders for public offerings.
The pandemic has accelerated the shift from bricks-and-mortar stores to online portals, with physical stores increasingly forced to close down due to reduced footfall. Dr Martens’ e-commerce platform brought in nearly 20% of its revenue in the year ending March 2020, up from just 7% in 2015.
The company had secured cornerstone investments of £250m from BlackRock, £100m from Janus Henderson Group and £75m from Merian Global Investors.
The deal gathered enough investor interest to cover all the shares on offer within about an hour of opening its order book. Dr Martens accelerated the IPO timeline, closing its offering two days earlier than originally planned.
Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley are joint global co-ordinators, while Barclays, Bank of America Securities, HSBC Holdings and Royal Bank of Canada will be joint bookrunners in the event the offer proceeds. Lazard & Company is the company’s financial adviser.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Dr Martens IPO raises £1.3bn in London
The British bootmaker’s owner Permira Holdings and other shareholders sold 350-million existing shares at 370p apiece
London — Dr Martens owner Permira Holdings and other shareholders raised £1.3bn through the British bootmaker’s initial public offering (IPO), London’s largest domestic listing since September.
The sale of 350-million existing shares were priced at 370p apiece, the top end of an initial range, the company said in a statement on Friday. The new stock will make its debut on Friday in London, with about 35% of the company’s shares available for trading.
The IPO values Dr Martens at £3.7bn, which is more than 10 times the £300m Permira paid for the bootmaker in 2014. Dr Martens’ is the largest IPO in London by a UK company since online shopping emporium THG raised £1.88bn in September 2020, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The Griggs family, which sold Dr Martens to Permira, and employees and directors of the company were also offered shares in the IPO. They can sell another 53-million shares if there’s enough demand, which would increase the size of the offering to £1.49bn.
Several other IPO candidates are taking advantage of a lockdown-fueled online shopping boom. Poland’s InPost, which operates automated parcel lockers, soared in its Amsterdam trading debut on Wednesday, while virtual greeting-card company Moonpig Group and used-car platform Auto1 Group are taking investor orders for public offerings.
The pandemic has accelerated the shift from bricks-and-mortar stores to online portals, with physical stores increasingly forced to close down due to reduced footfall. Dr Martens’ e-commerce platform brought in nearly 20% of its revenue in the year ending March 2020, up from just 7% in 2015.
The company had secured cornerstone investments of £250m from BlackRock, £100m from Janus Henderson Group and £75m from Merian Global Investors.
The deal gathered enough investor interest to cover all the shares on offer within about an hour of opening its order book. Dr Martens accelerated the IPO timeline, closing its offering two days earlier than originally planned.
Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley are joint global co-ordinators, while Barclays, Bank of America Securities, HSBC Holdings and Royal Bank of Canada will be joint bookrunners in the event the offer proceeds. Lazard & Company is the company’s financial adviser.
Bloomberg
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