This week begins with a series of flotations by IT companies on Frankfurt’s small cap exchange, the Neuer Markt, with two firms, Easy Software AG and CPU Softwarehouse AG, debuting yesterday and another, NSE Software AG, today.
Mulheim-based Easy Software is a developer of document management packages which saw revenue last year of DM29.99m ($16.3m). Yesterday’s flotation was preceded by an initial public offering (IPO) of 1.06 million shares, including the 120,000 included in a greenshoe option, the price for which was set at 22 euros ($23.39). This was the upper limit of its bookbuilding range (19-22 euros). Of the total on offer, 160,000 existing shares were sold by the company’s founders.
The shares sold in the IPO represent an approximate 23% stake in the company. Easy Software said half the issue was placed with private German investors. The IPO was led by Deutsche Genossenschaftsbank AG, with BHF-Bank AG and Sal Oppenheim Jr. & Cie also taking part. The shares opened at 65 euros ($69.11), closing down 15.3% at 55 euros ($58.27).
CPU Softwarehouse, based in Augsburg, is a developer of products for the financial sector, with revenue of DM7m ($3.81m) in 1998. Deutsche Genossenschaftsbank and Bayerische Landesbank handled the IPO.
The offering was for 2.5 million shares, including a greenshoe of 250,000, priced at 26 euros ($27.56), which was also the ceiling for bookbuilding (the range was 22-26 euros), and the shares opened at 58 euros on the Neuer Markt yesterday. Some 400,000 of the shares on offer were sold by the founders.
The company says it plans to use the funds raised with the IPO (approx. 55m euros, or $58m) to finance its expansion into other European countries. CPU’s shares opened at 58 euros ($61.45) and closed up 33% at 77.50 euros ($82.11).
Debuting today, meanwhile, is NSE Software AG, a developer specializing in sales and marketing automation systems, based in Munich. The company’s IPO involved 5.26 million shares, including 800,000 in the greenshoe option, which was exercised, with the price being set at 19 euros ($20.15). The price range for bookbuilding was 16-19 euros, and the offering was oversubscribed fourfold, according to the company.
The sale was led by Oppenheim, with a consortium comprising Dresdner Bank AG, Commerzbank AG, Westdeutsche Landesbank, Baden-Wuertembergische Bank AG, Heinrich Gontard & Co AG and Stadtsparkasse Muenchen.
