Milan Stock Exchange approves OVS IPO

The Milan stock exchange said earlier this week that it had given a green light to the initial public offering of Italian retail chain OVS. The Italian fashion group will float with a price tag of 400 to 540 cents apiece.

OVS Industry, the Italy-based clothing retailer owned by BC Partners-backed Coin Group, has priced its IPO at 400-540 cents per share.

Details of the number of sales offered are set to be unveiled with the publishing of the IPO prospectus. However, according to investor documents obtained by Reuters, analysts at Goldman Sachs anticipate a market cap of 1.1–1.4 billion euro on the basis of a capital increase of 350 million euro.

It is worth reminding that Goldman Sachs is running the listing alongside Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

The 900-shop chain was taken over by private equity firm BC Partners in 2011, as part as the acquisition of its parent group, Coin.

According to Reuters Italy, OVS is expected to have posted sales of 1.2 billion euros last year.

BC Partners start marketing phase aimed at UK and US investors mainly

Meanwhile, to launch the operation, which was previously attempted at the end of last year with null success, OVS’ owners have kicked off the marketing process.

Company’s market capitalization – noteworthy that the group has last reported a turnover of 1.136 billion euro and EBITDA of 131.5 million euro - should be more than one billion euro, highlighted ‘Il Sole 24 Ore’.

The public offering and subscription (OPVS) deal will be divided into a 350 million euro worth of a capital increase and an additional 50 million euro in cash for the current shareholders: BC Partners (which owns 80.81 percent), Ontario Limited (with 13.73 percent) and GB Holding (with 4.58 percent), plus a 0.75 percent for the management.

The float should reach 50 percent with the aim of reducing debt of the group (650 million), arising from the buyout of private equity, the company would like to bring in 2 times EBITDA (from 5.5 times 2013).

As highlighted by the company recently, their goal is to find institutional medium-term and non-speculative investors, based on an attractive discount. So far, the greatest deal of interest in participating in this OPVS has come from the US and US.