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The private equity-backed security company Verisure has announced plans to raise €3.1bn in an initial public offering in Stockholm, providing the latest signal of a reopening for new European listings.
Verisure, which is owned by the buyout investor Hellman & Friedman, could be priced at a more than €20bn enterprise valuation, in a deal that would be one of the largest European IPOs in recent years.
The company provides home alarm systems, and was first backed by Hellman & Friedman in 2011. Private equity groups have been under pressure from their own institutional backers to sell assets to return capital, although Hellman & Friedman is not selling any of its Verisure holding.
Verisure’s plans mark a further uptick in European IPOs after a prolonged slowdown in recent years. It also marks a large increase in valuation after Hellman & Friedman first invested at a €2.3bn valuation 14 years ago.
“We’ve obviously come a long way from when we were a small Swedish alarm company,” said Verisure chief executive Austin Lally. “Verisure is a really high quality asset because of the track record, because of the runway . . . clearly we think the market conditions are supportive.”
It joins other companies preparing European offerings in the coming months, including Deutsche Börse subsidiary ISS Stoxx and classifieds business Swiss Marketplace Group.
Switzerland-based SMG is expected to price at the top end of its SFr43 to SFr46 ($55 to $58) range, according to a term sheet seen by the Financial Times, another sign of rising confidence from investors.
This would raise about SFr903mn ($1.1bn) and give SMG a market capitalisation of roughly SFr4.5bn, making it among the biggest listings in Switzerland since the 2024 IPO of Galderma.
The first day of trading for SMG, formed in 2021, is scheduled for Friday.
Verisure generated more than €1.8bn of revenues in the first half of the year, marking a close to 10 per cent increase in that period from the year before, according to its announcement. Adjusted earnings were €845mn.
Some of the IPO proceeds will be used to reduce the company’s debt and bolster its plans to expand in Europe and Latin America.
