Hengeler Mueller advises Scout24 on IPO

01. October 2015

Scout24 AG (Scout24) successfully completed its IPO with the initial listing of its shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on 1 October 2015. The final offer price was set at EUR 30 per share, the total offer volume amounting to approximately EUR 1,159 m, assuming the full exercise of the greenshoe option. A total of 38,640,000 shares were placed in the context of the offering. Thereof, 7,600,000 shares result from a capital increase, corresponding to EUR 228 m gross proceeds for Scout24. In addition, a total of 26,000,000 secondary shares were placed from ASA HoldCo GmbH, a company indirectly held by funds advised by affiliates of Hellman & Friedman LLC and The Blackstone Group L.P., Deutsche Telekom AG and other current shareholders. In addition, 5,040,000 shares were placed from an overallotment option.

For the first time in the context of an IPO in the German market, the public offer included an option for selling shareholders to increase the placement volume beyond the basic volume by further shares to be able to react to market volatility.

Scout24 operates leading digital classifieds platforms in Germany and other selected European countries. The main operations under the umbrella brand Scout24 are the digital marketplaces ImmobilienScout24 and AutoScout24.

Hengeler Mueller comprehensively advised Scout24 on the IPO. The Hengeler Mueller team included partners Achim Herfs and Simon Patrick Link (both Capital Markets/Corporate, Munich), counsels Anna Schwander (Capital Markets/Corporate, Munich), Mathias Link (Tax, Frankfurt) and Fabian Seip (Public Law, Berlin) as well as associates Alexander Kredig (Tax, Frankfurt), Elisabeth Kreuzer, Katrin Geiger, Moritz Schuler, Christoph Jerger (all Capital/Markets, Munich).

Hengeler Mueller had already advised Deutsche Telekom AG on the sale of a majority shareholding in Scout24 to ASA HoldCo GmbH (see press release dated 22 November 2013) and in relation to the Scout24 Management Equity Program (under the lead of Christian Schwandtner, Düsseldorf).