Permira floats Hogg Robinson at reduced price

Hogg Robinson, a UK business travel company owned by European buyout firm Permira, has priced its initial public offering at 90 pence per share, the bottom of its revised price range.
 
The company ditched a pricing range of 140 pence to 200 pence, when it shelved original plans for a flotation at the end of September, citing adverse market conditions. It relaunched the offer late last week with a heavily reduced pricing range of 90 pence to 120 pence.
 
The 90 pence offer price values Hogg Robinson at £275 million (€407 million; $513 million), below the original pricing’s mid-point valuation of £380 million. The company will raise £220 million through an offering of 200 million new ordinary shares and 44.44 million existing ordinary shares, representing 80 percent of the company’s enlarged share capital.
 
Permira, which acquired a 50 percent stake in Hogg Robinson in a €640 million transaction in May 2000, declined to comment on the flotation. The firm sold 44 percent of its equity shareholding, according to a statement from SVG Capital, an investor in Permira’s funds. The exit generated £18 million for SVG Capital, with the remaining holding valued at £6.4 million.
 
Despite having to sell more of the company in order to float the business, David Radcliffe, chief executive of Hogg Robinson Group, said in a statement that the offer had been “well received by investors” and that he was “delighted” at the company’s return to the capital markets.