Reuters: Private Equity: Evonik listing depends on 15 bln eur valuation- sources

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Evonik listing depends on 15 bln eur valuation- sources Mar 22nd 2012, 17:11 By Matthias Inverardi and Matthias Sobolewski FRANKFURT, March 22 | Thu Mar 22, 2012 1:11pm EDT FRANKFURT, March 22 (Reuters) - German industrial conglomerate Evonik will only be listed on the stock exchange if there is enough demand in the share sale to value the company at 15 billion euros ($19.8 billion), seven people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday. The publicly owned RAG Foundation holds some 75 percent of Evonik and its executive committee, the so-called board of trustees, plans to decide finally on May 23 whether to go ahead with the listing in the short term or not, two of the people said. The sources did not say how the RAG Foundation had arrived at the 15 billion euro figure. However, it would be roughly in line with the valuation of rivals. Peer BASF trades at 5.2 times last year's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. At the same multiple, Evonik, which posted operating earnings of 2.8 billion euros last year, would be worth 14.6 billion euros. The share sale, a so-called initial public offering or IPO, might be hampered by the lack of a head of the foundation: The current head, Wilhelm Bonse-Geuking, will quit in June and until now no successor has been found, the sources said. But investors would want to see management in place at all levels before they buy a company's shares, investment bankers said. The RAG foundation declined to comment. Buyout firm CVC, which owns 25 percent of Evonik, recently said Evonik could be listed by the end of June. In April last year, the RAG foundation said it was preparing for the sale of shares worth at least 1 billion euros within 15 months but put the plans on ice in September in view of the weak financial markets prevailing at that time. Companies like Advent's H.C. Starck and Siemens's Osram also postponed their listing due to jittery markets. Risk appetite has returned to a certain extent and investors have been rushing to buy shares of Switzerland's DKSH, which helps companies market and distribute goods in Asia, and of Dutch cable company Ziggo. ($1 = 0.7582 euros) (Additional reporting by Arno Schuetze; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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