Stromnetze: Milliarden-Börsengang – die Pläne von SGB-Smit werden konkret

The German power grid manufacturer SGB-Smit is advancing its plans for a stock market debut. To facilitate this, the company has enlisted Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and legal firm Freshfields as advisors. This information was confirmed to three trusted sources by the Handelsblatt. SGB-Smit anticipates an IPO in the first quarter of the coming year, aiming to raise approximately a billion euros.

This valuation would place the company between four and five billion euros. The Financial Times first reported on the stock market plans in June. As the industry landscape has remained positive since then, the IPO plans have become more concrete now. SGB-Smit generates a revenue of 1.6 billion euros annually and employs around 3,800 employees across 16 locations worldwide, including Germany, the USA, the Netherlands, and Romania.

The pipeline of orders is "filled for years," according to an insider, and the revenue is well-projected because the transformers are part of long-term planned power, energy, and infrastructure projects. The company develops and produces transformers, which raise the voltage for the long-distance transmission of electricity, and then lower the voltage before use.

The products are sold to energy providers, grid operators, industrial companies, and renewable energy providers, among others. They are used in power plants, substations, wind and solar parks, as well as data centers. A key part of the value chain, SGB-Smit currently belongs to the portfolio of the US private equity firm One Equity Partners.

For the financial investor, an IPO of SGB-Smit could be an opportunity to partially or fully divest from the investment. Whether the financial investor will sell all shares or invest first remains unclear. One Equity Partners acquired the transformer manufacturer in 2017. A SGB-Smit and One Equity Partners spokesperson stated, "SGB-Smit is continually reviewing all options to further develop the company and continue its growth trajectory."

They declined to comment on further details. The insiders describe SGB-Smit as a "key part of the value chain" for the electrification of industry. The company has gained significant recognition and appeal in the past year. While a sale to a financial investor or industrial conglomerate is still conceivable, the focus is now on the preparations for the IPO.

"Suddenly, the IPO is more interesting than selling the company," said an insider. An IPO is suddenly more attractive to investors than the company itself. Institutional investors with expertise in electrification are being approached to test the IPO story and win support for the stock market debut. The IPO market in Germany remains challenging, as seen with the postponement of the stock market plans for the German-French armored vehicle manufacturer KNDS to the autumn.

The fate of another IPO, elevator manufacturer TK Elevator, which was recently sold to competitor Kone, remains uncertain. However, companies benefiting from megatrends such as electrification, artificial intelligence (AI), and the expansion of data centers stand out. This was recently proven by the gas engine manufacturer Innio in Tyrol, which went public on the US technology exchange Nasdaq in June.