Infrastructure company Sacyr Vallehermoso could float toll road operator Itinere Infraestructuras shortly. A Sacyr official confirmed that it still expected to reduce its stake before the end of the first quarter.
Ana de Pro Gonzalo, head of institutional relations at Sacyr, said the company intended to stick to its original timetable and reduce its 90% stake in Itinere before the end of March.
Citigroup, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and UBS are bookrunners for the deal, which will include a public offer managed by Caja Madrid, La Caixa and Santander.
The details of the sale have still to be announced but Sacyr Vallehermoso has said it intends to retain at least 51% of the company.
The market capitalisation of Itinere (based on the listed shares) is around Eu1bn. In November Sacyr Vallehermoso valued the business at Eu11bn, including Eu4.6bn of net debt.
If Sacyr Vallehermoso were to cut its stake to 51% the sale could be worth as much as Eu4.9bn.
A syndicate banker at one of the bookrunners said there was no immediate plan to launch the deal but that the bookrunners were closely monitoring the market for opportunities.
It would be the first major equity issue from Spain this year.
United Arab Emirates
The HSBC-led $150m IPO of Ajman Bank, a new Shariah-compliant lender being set up by the UAE state of Ajman, closed almost 86 times oversubscribed this week.
A total of 550m shares, or 55% of the company, were sold at a fixed price of Dh1. Of the total, 100m shares — valued at around $27m — were available for international investors to buy.
The deal listed the stock on the domestic Dubai Financial Market and is the most heavily oversubscribed IPO in the UAE for more than a year.
The UAE stockmarket, like others in the region, performed poorly in 2007 after a bubble in stock prices in 2006.