Leading academic publisher Springer Nature made its stock market debut Friday, one of the few initial public offerings in Frankfurt this year despite the exchange’s strong performance.
The share price topped 24 euros ($26) shortly after trading began, well above the IPO price of 22.50 euros, which valued the group at nearly 4.5 billion euros.
Springer Nature is a major publisher in the fields of research, health and education. Its titles include Nature and Scientific American, and it has around 9,000 employees in 40 countries.
Demand from both German and foreign investors has been strong, according to Bloomberg.
The IPO is for a maximum of some 600 million euros, partly via a capital increase of 200 million euros, and the rest through the sale of existing shares.
The group says it has a strong position in the growing research publishing market, boosted by trends such as artificial intelligence.
In 2023 it reported sales of 1.85 billion euros and adjusted operating profit of over 500 million euros.
Despite a strong performance by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange this year—with the blue-chip DAX index recently hitting a record high—there have been few IPOs.
In April the world’s largest tourism operator TUI returned to the Frankfurt exchange after being primarily listed in London for 10 years.
Leading perfume retailer Douglas also returned to the exchange this year, as did Renk, which makes gearboxes for tanks.
© 2024 AFP
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