Sunrise faces one of the largest IPOs in the world
Published: Friday, Nov 15th 2024, 08:20
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Sunrise returns to the SIX Swiss Exchange on Friday (today) after a four-year absence. According to the trading of American depositary receipts (ADS) the evening before, this will be one of the largest IPOs worldwide.
On Thursday, Sunrise ADSs rose by 6.2% to 48.00 dollars on the US technology exchange Nasdaq. This would give Sunrise a market capitalization of 3.4 billion dollars.
Only the IPOs of Lineage in the USA (5.1 billion dollars) and the Midea Group in China (4.0 billion dollars) were larger. In Switzerland, this would put Sunrise well ahead of skincare specialist Galderma, whose IPO in March amounted to just under CHF 2.3 billion.
However, Sunrise is not a traditional initial public offering (IPO), but a spin-off from its parent company Liberty Global. The former Liberty shareholders received Sunrise ADSs, which have been traded on the Nasdaq since last Wednesday.
Liberty shareholders can now either sell their ADSs on the Nasdaq or exchange them for Sunrise shares. Each ADS is worth one share in the Swiss telecoms company. Trading in Sunrise shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange will start at 9 a.m. with the traditional ringing of the stock exchange bell by the company's management.
Different share categories
The allocation procedure was complicated, as Liberty Global has three share classes. Sunrise will also have two classes of shares. Existing Liberty shareholders will receive one A share in Sunrise for five shares in Liberty Global.
Only the A-shares of Sunrise with the ticker symbol "SUNN" will be listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange. They are expected to be included in the broad stock market index SPI five trading days after the listing. That would be next Friday, November 22.
There is also a second class B share with ten times the voting power. This remains largely in the hands of Liberty bosses John Malone and Mike Fries, who thus hold a good quarter of the Swiss group.
The Sunrise B shares are not listed on the stock exchange. Holders of these B shares can exchange their shares for Sunrise A shares at a ratio of 1:10. A total of 68,759,702 Sunrise Class A shares and 25,977,316 Sunrise Class B shares are outstanding.
Entrepreneurial freedom
With the IPO, Sunrise will be released back into entrepreneurial freedom. The Swiss company will be operationally separated from the US cable network giant. Liberty is investing CHF 1.2 billion to reduce Sunrise's debt.
Sunrise will not completely separate itself from the parent company in the future. Business relationships will remain in place. "Thanks to various service agreements, Sunrise will continue to benefit from the partnership with Liberty Global," it was stated at the Capital Markets Day in September. In addition, Liberty bosses John Malone and Mike Fries will remain major shareholders and thus have considerable influence.
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