London on alert for £17bn float of security group Verisure
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The London Stock Exchange is preparing to do battle for one of Europe’s biggest initial public offerings for years as Verisure, the domestic security systems provider, kicks off plans for a flotation valuing it at more than €20bn (£16.7bn). Sky News has learnt that Verisure's owner, the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F), is in the preliminary stages of drawing up plans for a public listing of Verisure.
People close to the company said this weekend that a flotation was unlikely to take place for between 12 and 18 months, although they cautioned that no formal decisions of any kind had been taken. Exchanges in London and Amsterdam are regarded as the likeliest destinations for a listing, although public markets in Stockholm - Verisure is Swedish-headquartered - and Zurich are also expected to form part of the decision-making process.
Verisure has roughly 5.5m customers in 17 countries, including the UK, Brazil, Chile, Italy and the Netherlands. Under Austin Lally, its chief executive, it has been transformed into a lucrative subscription model-based business pitching technologically sophisticated services to its customer base.
Four years ago, the company was responsible for one of the biggest dividend recapitalisations in the history of the private equity industry when it was reported to have paid out more than $6bn to its owners. Dollar surges as fears grow for world economy over Trump's threat of tariffs.
