Princes Group marked its debut on the London Stock Exchange today (31 October) but received a cool response from investors.
Shares in the food and drink business, a unit of Italy’s NewPrinces, were down 0.2% at 473.95 pence as of 1:06pm GMT today.
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Documents filed this morning confirmed the squash and canned tuna maker was seeking to raise £400m ($524.4m) in group proceeds through the IPO priced at 475 pence per share to give a market capitalisation of £1.16bn ($1.52bn).
Princes Group CEO Simon Harrison said in a filing with the LSE: “Princes has a really proud history of growth and innovation. And this IPO on the London Stock Exchange is the next logical step in that growth journey.
“This will help us fuel our expansion plans that will benefit not only our customers but also everybody who works here at this great business.”
The company’s executive chair Angelo Mastrolia added: “The UK is our largest market and the home of an experienced leadership team: this decision reflects our long-term confidence in the business, the strength of our management, and the scale of the opportunity ahead of us.”
Based in Liverpool, Princes Group produces brands such as Napolina tinned tomatoes, Batchelor’s tinned peas and Jucee squash.
NewPrinces confirmed it was planning to float in London at the start of October.
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By GlobalDataCEO Harrison said at the time he expected the IPO would offer “access to capital to execute our M&A ambitions”, as well as “provide a platform to accelerate growth by expanding our product portfolio and expertise, extending our international reach, and attracting top talent as we continue building for the future”.
Newlat Food snapped up Princes Group from Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. in May last year for £700m.
After the deal, the company renamed itself NewPrinces, which went on to complete its own listing and that of its Italian dairy arm Centrale del Latte d’Italia.
