Klckner & Co IPO

Klöckner & Co, a German steel distributor backed by US private equity firm Lindsay Goldberg & Bessemer, has floated on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange with an offer price of €16 per share, giving it a market capitalisation of €744m.

The share price was towards the lower end of the €15 to €18 per share offer range, and sees Lindsay Goldberg raise €160m, with a possible €32m extra if a two million share over-allotment option is exercised. Klöckner has raised a gross total of €104m.

Klöckner began life in 1906 and was acquired by Lindsay Goldberg in early 2005 when the business was sold by majority shareholder WestLB and minority shareholder HSH Nordbank. Lindsay Goldberg has pursued a buy-and-build strategy with three acquisitions in 2005.

The US private equity firm is also preparing to float its one remaining investment in Europe, again in Germany, in the form of Wacker Construction Equipment, a company it acquired in December 2003, which manufactures light construction machinery for the building industry. Wacker plans to raise between €80m and €120m from the July IPO.