The London Stock Exchange is preparing to do battle for one of Europe’s biggest initial public offerings for years as Verisure, the domestic security systems provider, kicks off plans for a flotation valuing it at more than €20bn (£16.7bn).
Sky News has learnt that Verisure’s owner, the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F), is in the preliminary stages of drawing up plans for a public listing of Verisure.
People close to the company said this weekend that a flotation was unlikely to take place for between 12 and 18 months, although they cautioned that no formal decisions of any kind had been taken.
Exchanges in London and Amsterdam are regarded as the likeliest destinations for a listing, although public markets in Stockholm and Zurich – Verisure is Swedish-incorporated and Swiss-headquartered – are also expected to form part of the decision-making process.
Verisure has roughly 5.5m customers in 17 countries, including the UK, Brazil, Chile, Italy and the Netherlands.
Under Austin Lally, its chief executive, it has been transformed into a lucrative subscription model-based business pitching technologically sophisticated services to its customer base.
Four years ago, the company was responsible for one of the biggest dividend recapitalisations in the history of the private equity industry when it was reported to have paid out more than $6bn to its owners – a figure that sources say was in fact closer to $2bn.
It was unclear this weekend how realistic London Stock Exchange Group’s chances were of winning what would be one of its biggest overseas listings for years.
News of Verisure’s early-stage plans comes, though, at what is seen as an increasingly critical time for the LSE.
Hopes that Shein, the Chinese-founded online fashion group, would stage a float in London this year possibly valuing it at £50bn have been buffeted by a rocky appearance before MPs on the business and trade select committee this week.
Liam Byrne, the committee…
