Springer Nature, the private equity-backed academic publisher, is putting off what would have been Germany’s biggest initial public offering in more than a year, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company, owned by buyout firm BC Partners and Germany’s family-controlled Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, decided to delay the listing because of market conditions, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
Springer Nature previously planned to sell about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) of new stock in the offering as soon as last month, Bloomberg News reported. The company had considered seeking a valuation of about 7 billion euros in the listing, a person familiar with the matter had said.
A representative for BC Partners declined to comment. Representatives for Holtzbrinck and Springer Nature couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The delay follows lackluster debuts in September by the two largest IPOs on the Frankfurt exchange this year.
Camper van and mobile home maker Knaus Tabbert AG slashed the size of its IPO to 232 million euros, with its shares dropping 5.5% below the offer price on their first day of trading. KKR & Co.-backed military supplier Hensoldt AG fell 7.2% in its debut after it priced its 400 million euro offering at the bottom of a marketed range.
This week, commercial real estate firm Epic Suisse AG said it had called off a planned IPO in Zurich, also citing market conditions.
Springer Nature was created in 2015 through the merger of BC Partners owned Springer Science+Business Media with the majority of Macmillan Science and Education, controlled by Holtzbrinck. The combined company reported revenue of 1.72 billion euros in 2019, according to its website. The company employs about 10,000 people in more than 50 countries.
