Wacker - not wacky

30 March 2006 By Nina Koeppen

The familyowned chemicals group is Germany s first big IPO this year and will set the pace for more than 20 big deals in the pipeline. Fortunately, Wacker is an attractive business. It should see good demand for its IPO at the right price.

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Wacker Chemie is to float about 25% of its equity on the Frankfurt stock exchange in a deal expected to value the familycontrolled speciality chemicals group at about E3.8bn. A price range will be published on March 30. The first day of trading is April 10.

The company will sell its 15% stake held in treasury. Other shareholders including Blue Elephant, a holding company controlled by the Wacker family, and Morgan Stanley will also sell shares. However, the Wacker family will retain its 56% directlyheld stake.

Morgan Stanley and UBS are joint bookrunners for the transaction. DrKW is a joint lead manager.

Wacker, which makes silicones and polymers among other things, booked a net profit of E144m in 2005 on E2.8bn in sales. It reported E260m in ebit.

Wacker's upcoming IPO is the first big public share offering in Germany this year. At the end of 2005, bankers were expecting up to 30 bigger IPOs from Germany in 2006.

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