NORTH AMERICA. Dufry-owned travel retailer Hudson has confirmed the terms of its planned Initial Public Offering (IPO), with shares expected to begin trading today (1 February) on the New York Stock Exchange.
The company will make 39.42 million Class A shares available, priced at US$19. Previously the company had said shares would be priced between US$19 and US$21. Dufry intends to retain majority ownership of Hudson, which will be listed under the symbol ‘HUD’.
All of the Class A common shares will be sold by Dufry International AG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dufry, and Hudson Group will not receive any proceeds from the offering. Dufry International AG has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 5,912,664 Class A common shares at the initial offering price, less the underwriting discount.
The initial offering is expected to close on 5 February, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.
Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and UBS Investment Bank are lead bookrunners and representatives of the underwriters for the offering. BofA Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC are further bookrunners for the offering. Banco Santander, BBVA, BNP PARIBAS, Credit Agricole CIB, HSBC, Natixis, Raiffeisen Centrobank and UniCredit Capital Markets are co-managers for the offering.
In July, Dufry revealed plans for an IPO of its North American business. CEO Julían Díaz said at the time: “The [North American] business would remain an important component of Dufry’s global diversification strategy, and its operations would remain integrated with Dufry Group across all major functions, allowing the North American business to continue to benefit from Dufry’s expertise and scale in the global travel retail industry.”
He said the planned IPO reflects the different development of travel retail in North America compared to the rest of the world.
He also told investors that the company was looking to accelerate growth in the market by expanding its food & beverage operations through external acquisition.
