By Elliot Gulliver-Needham
Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners is rumoured to be listing on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange as soon as next week.
The London-headquartered backer of the Six Nations is considering a float of around €15bn (£12.8bn), according to Sky News‘ Mark Kleinman.
One source toldthe broadcaster that CVC would be ready to launch an IPO within ten days, but said that the prospect of a successful float was “on a knife-edge”.
This would be the third attempt at an IPO from the firm, after first making noise about the idea in 2021.
It then pulled back from its plans to move to the public markets the next year, blaming market turbulence from inflation and the war in Ukraine.
The snub to the UK comes after years of significant slowdowns for the London Stock Exchange, after it received just just 23 IPOs over the last year, down from 45 in 2022, which itself was a 62 per cent drop on the record 119 listings in 2021.
Despite being London-based, Amsterdam has long been the intended destination for the company to list, given the euro denomination of its funds and its EU headquarters in Luxembourg
Many have also credited the failure of CVC rival Bridgepoint on London’s market for turning off the private equity giant from ever listing in the capital, as Bridgepoint’s stock price is down 47 per cent since listing in 2021.
However, other private equity firms such as KKR (listed on the New York Stock Exchange), have seen great success in the recent private market enthusiasm boom, with its stock price doubling in the last year, pushing CVC towards a listing.
Sky News reported that if CVC does proceed with an IPO, it is expected to sell only around 15 per cent of its stock to public investors, after a minority stake was bought in it by Blue Owl in 2021.
Earlier this year, CVC acquired UK-based video game developer Jagex.
The deal saw the Runescape developer swap hands from the Carlyle Group for £910m to the CVC Capital Partners fund VIII and Haveli Investments.
CVC declined to comment.
