June 23 (Reuters) – Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE) and Industrie De Nora (DNR.MI) went ahead with the planned initial public offering (IPO) of their hydrogen joint venture Thyssenkrupp Nucera on Friday, setting the price range at the lower end of expectations.
The IPO will be Germany’s first since February, when shares in web hosting company IONOS (IOSn.DE) debuted in Frankfurt as stock market volatility and uncertain economic outlook have put other company listings on the backburner.
Nucera said that up to 30.3 million shares will be offered to investors at a price between 19 euros ($20.76) and 21.50 euros, equivalent to gross proceeds of up to 566 million euros and a market capitalization of as much as 2.7 billion euros.
This is at the lower end of the 2 billion to 5 billion that sources had predicted in April. People familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this week that Nucera was expected to be valued at more than $3 billion.
“We are on track and believe Thyssenkrupp Nucera is ready for the IPO with its attractive business model and technology for large-scale green hydrogen production,” Nucera CEO Werner Ponikwar said in a statement.
The company plans to put the proceeds into its electrolysis business.
The offer includes approximately 3.9 million existing shares to be sold by Thyssenkrupp and De Nora, who own Nucera in a 66:34 split. New shareholders will own about a quarter of Nucera after the IPO, while Thyssenkrupp retains a majority.
Nucera, which develops and builds electrolysers that can use electricity to split water into oxygen and hydrogen, said the offering period is expected to run from June 26 to July 5, with the first day of trading scheduled for July 7.
The fund subsidiary of BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) and the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund PIF have committed to subscribe to Nucera shares as cornerstone investors, while Citigroup (CN) and Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) are acting as joint global coordinators for the transaction, it added.
($1 = 0.9152 euros)
Reporting by Anna Mackenzie and Christoph Steitz; Edited by Kirsti Knolle, Christina Fincher, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Alexander Smith