By John Revill and Shayndi Raice
ZURICH--Sunrise Communications AG on Wednesday confirmed it
planned to file an initial public offering that would raise about
1.35 billion Swiss francs ($1.33 billion) in the latest shuffling
of ownership in Switzerland's telecommunications market.
Zurich-based Sunrise, Switzerland's second-biggest
telecommunications company by revenue, said it expected to complete
a listing on the Swiss SIX Exchange during the first half of 2015,
confirming reports in The Wall Street Journal late on Tuesday. The
company said the proceeds would be used to reduce debts incurred
investing in its mobile phone network.
Private equity company CVC Capital Partners has owned Sunrise
since October 2010. The investment group plans to retain a stake
after the IPO.
The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday the deal would
value the Swiss telecoms provider at about 5 billion francs, with
shares likely to start trading in early-to-mid February.
The planned listing comes amid a shake-up in the Swiss
telecommunications industry. In December, French telecom tycoon
Xavier Niel agreed to buy Orange Switzerland from Apax Partners in
a deal worth nearly $3 billion.
Mr. Niel's entry into the Swiss market, which is dominated by
government-controlled Swisscom AG, is expected to introduce more
competitive pricing.
The Sunrise flotation would also be the largest initial public
offering in the Alpine country for almost nine years, since oil
refiner Petroplus Holdings AG raised 2.89 billion francs in
2006.
The Sunrise IPO would mark Europe's largest telecom offering
since 2012, according to Dealogic, and would also be one of the
larger European IPOs in recent years, as the market has been
stifled by economic weakness and financial volatility on the
continent.
IPO volume reached $14.7 billion in telecom, media and
technology in the European region in 2014, more than triple the
year-earlier total, according to Dealogic, amid a broad resurgence
in deal activity around the world. Such offerings represented 17%
of all IPOs in the region in 2014, compared with 10% the year
before.
CVC, which holds 90% of Sunrise, will see its stake diluted by
the sale, but will "probably remain the most important stakeholder
in any case," Sunrise Chief Financial Officer André Krause said
during a conference call.
Sunrise said it would provide details on share pricing closer to
the time of listing.
Write to John Revill at john.revill@wsj.com and Shayndi Raice at
shayndi.raice@wsj.com
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