Geely-owned Volvo Cars said on Monday its initial public offering would be priced within a range of 53 to 68 Swedish crowns per share, valuing the company at up to $23bn in what is likely to be one Europe's biggest listings this year.
Volvo repeated that it expected the issue of new shares to provide it with gross proceeds of about 25-billion crowns before transaction costs. “This will ensure that we can continue with the plan that we have,” finance chief Bjorn Annwall said. The Gothenburg-based company, which said its January-September operating profit rose to 16.6-billion crowns in the year-ago period, had previously said that owner Geely would remain its biggest shareholder after the listing.
The market for initial public offerings has been hit hard by runaway inflation and the rising rate environment, with a slew of cancellations and postponements hitting the screens in Europe and the US after a stellar first half.