Peer review

3 May 2018 By Liam Proud Follow @liamwardproud

The German science publisher is selling shares in a Frankfurt listing. A heavy debt load and a narrow focus on academic publishing are drawbacks. But Springer Nature is more cheaply valued than peers like RELX and will benefit if open-access science journals grow more dominant.

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Springer Nature, the publisher of science magazines Nature and Scientific American, on April 25 said it would offer shares funworth up to 1.6 billion euros in a planned Frankfurt initial public offering.

The price range of 10.50 euros to 14.50 euros per share would give the group a market capitalisation of between 3.2 billion euros and 3.9 billion euros. The company’s net debt after the float will be around 2.1 billion euros.

Buyout group BC Partners will sell some of its shares in the listing if demand is strong, while majority owner Holtzbrinck will acquire shares worth 100 million euros in the offering, although its stake will still sink to less than 50 percent.

Trading is expected to start on May 9.

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