German engineering group Norma will use the proceeds from its market debut to chip away at its pile of debt and fund acquisitions, the group's top two executives told Reuters. "Our eyes are open and we would consider acquisition targets all over the world," Chief Financial Officer Othmar Belker said in an interview on Friday.
"We don't have any concrete targets yet, but we have a long list of potential candidates," he said, adding that the company had already bought two companies in the US in 2010, strengthening its foothold in that market. On Thursday, Norma revealed its intention to float on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the first half of 2011, with the aim of cashing in gross proceeds of about 150 million euros ($207.1 million).
"We started preparing the initial public offering (IPO) at the end of last year," Chief Executive Werner Deggim said. He added that the company had doubled sales volumes since it was taken over by British private equity group 3i Group Plc in 2006, and that floating on the market was simply the "next logical step".
Norma, which chiefly develops and manufactures plastic and metal-based components and systems in the field of connecting technology, said Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs will advise it on the IPO. The executives declined to say how much debt the company was currently in, but Belker said that the proceeds would "contribute to paying back debt".
Both Deggim and Belker declined to give any precise details on the issuing price range or the time plan for the listing, but did not rule out that the debut could take place before Easter. Around 73 percent of the group's shares are owned by 3i, 17 percent by previous parent Sweden's ABA Group, leaving around 10 percent in the hands of current and former management.
"All former owners want to sell shares through the IPO. But you can be sure that that we managers will still hold some shares after the market debut," Deggim said. Going forward, Deggim said that the company expected to be boosted by trends such as emission-reducing technology, hybrid vehicles and rising energy costs in future. The company supplies more than 10,000 corporate customers world-wide with over 35,000 different products.