Ottobock filed its initial public offering (IPO) on October 9, and began trading on Germany’s Frankfurt Stock Exchange at 72 euros ($83.61 USD) per share, exceeding its offer price in the country’s largest IPO in more than a year, according to a Reuters news report.
The company planned to raise about 808 million euros ($870 million) through the IPO. The share issue initially valued the company at 4.2 billion euros ($4.7 billion) based on the offer price of 66 euros ($77) apiece, but shares posted a 5.5 percent gain, trading at 69.6 euros ($81).
Ottobock will receive 100 million euros from the offering, with the remaining proceeds going to the founding Naeder family, which will retain more than 80 percent of the shares.
Some of the proceeds are expected to be used by the Naeder family to repay a loan from private credit funds, which was taken last year to buy back a stake in the company from Swedish private equity investor EQT.
The Naeder family will still owe the financiers around one billion euros and has until the first quarter of 2030 to pay back the debt, according to the prospectus. While the family’s stake has been reduced to 81 percent in the IPO, they are expected to further cut their holdings to 70-75 percent after a 180-day lock-up period, according to the news report.
