Douglas, the German cosmetics retailer, has announced plans for an initial public offering (IPO) and listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, thereby raising hopes for a recovery in the European IPO market, which is already on the brink of collapse.
This retailer, which has over 1800 stores in more than 20 European countries, including Croatia, and is majority-owned by private equity group CVC, plans to raise 1.1 billion euros through the IPO. According to the Financial Times, Douglas is seeking a valuation of around six billion euros, which would be the largest IPO in Frankfurt since Porsche’s emergency listing two years ago.
The German retailer plans to sell shares worth 800 million euros to external investors, while CVC and other existing investors also plan to inject 300 million euros into the company as part of the IPO.
Higher interest rates have depressed the European IPO market, which has long been overshadowed by the much larger U.S. market, but Douglas’s listing could breathe at least some optimism into it. Otherwise, the German retailer was privatized ten years ago and has since undergone several restructurings, and now plans to issue an IPO in the coming months.
