Austrian insurer Uniqa ups free float with €750m share offer
AUSTRIAN insurer Uniqa launched a share sale yesterday that aims to raise around €750m for expansion abroad and boost its free float to as much as 36.7 per cent.
Its re-IPO – so called because it will raise the free float from just seven per cent – is set be the biggest deal on the Vienna Stock Exchange since the €411m initial public offering (IPO) of aluminium group AMAG in April 2011.
Uniqa set a price range of €7.50-8.50 per share for the offer, which combines a rights issue to existing shareholders, a public offering and a private placement to institutional investors.
Its core shareholders have agreed not to take part in the rights issue, which offers five new shares for each 11 held now, it said. Raiffeisen Zentralbank holds 45.3 per cent now, the Austria insurance foundation 44.1 per cent and the Collegialitaet foundation 3.3 per cent.
The process is set to run until 8 October, with trading in the new shares to start on 11 October.