The drinks and snacks group C&C has confirmed plans to list its shares on the Dublin and London stock markets in early July. It will be the first large Irish company to come to the market since the Eircom flotation three years ago.
C&C, which owns leading brands such as Bulmers Cider, Ballygowan water, Club Orange and Tayto crisps, will issue a prospectus for investors in the middle of June.
Most of the shares are expected to be taken-up by large institutional investors in the Republic, Britain and internationally. A relatively small proportion of shares, possible around 20 per cent, will be offered to small Irish investors through Davy Stockbrokers.
C&C will begin a series of presentations to large institutional investors in the Republic and Britain when the prospectus is finalised. A guide price, setting out the range within which the shares are expected to be initially offered, will be disclosed in the prospectus.
C&C will be working with its advisers over the next couple of weeks to set a price that will be sufficient to attract investor interest.
Market analysts suggested C&C could achieve a market valuation of between €1.1 billion and €1.4 billion depending on the share price when it begins trading.
Announcing the imminent flotation yesterday, C&C executive chairman Mr Tony O'Brien said a stock market listing will give the company greater flexibility going foward.
"The favourable dynamics of the Irish market, our comprehensive distribution network and the fact that many of our brands are market leaders in growing product segments give me great confidence in our future as a public company," he said.
Some €20 million worth of C&C shares will be gifted to its 2,124 employees in the flotation. They will each receive €500 worth of shares for every year of service. They will also benefit from special arrangements to buy additional shares.
Mr O'Brien and other senior management who purchased 10 per cent of the company in a management buy-out in 1999 will be among the main beneficiaries of the flotation.
The chairman's stake could be worth more than €10 million depending on the flotation price. Other major shareholders are the finance director Mr Brendan Dwan, whose shareholding could be worth €6.5 million; and Mr Brendan Plunkett, with a share holding that could be valued at €7 million.
Mr Colin Gordon, Mr Desmond Drumm, Mr James Bradley and Mr Peter McGovern, each stand to gain €5.2 million if the flotation succeeds.
The private equity firm BC Capital, which currently owns 90 per cent of C&C, is expected to halve its investment retaining somewhere between 40 and 45 per cent of C&C after the flotation.
C&C's trade customers will also be offered special arrangements to buy the shares.
The company's chief executive, Mr Maurice Pratt, refused to state how much money the group was seeking to raise by coming to the market in July. Assuming the other shareholders sell down pro-rata to BC Capital, somewhere in the region of €500 million to €700 million could be raised.
C&C has signalled that it wants to use most of the funds to reduce the amount of debt on its balance sheet. This currently stands at around €800 million. Any surplus funds will be used to underpin the future development of the group and help it to expand internationally, he said.
Goldman Sachs International and Schroder Salomon Smith Barney are acting as joint global co-ordinators, and IBI Corporate Finance and Davy Stockbrokers are acting as joint lead managers.
Potential investors can contact C&C's share offer helpline at 1850 580280 or contact Davy Stockbrokers at www.davy.ie to reserve a prospectus.
