The German used car platform expects its stock market debut on February 4th.
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The IPO of the used car platform Auto1 is expected to cost up to 1.8 billion euros. The operator of “wirkaufendeinauto.de” set the price range on Monday at 32 to 38 euros per share. The Berlin-based company, which was founded nine years ago, wants to raise EUR 1 billion itself and, above all, finance its planned growth. The rest – EUR 500 to 833 million – goes to the existing shareholders. The subscription period starts on Tuesday and runs until February 2nd.
On February 4th, the share is to be traded for the first time on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol “AG1”. The stock market debut of Auto1 – which is also active in Austria under “wirkaufendeinauto.at” – comes at a time when so many companies have not been on the floor for a long time. On Thursday, the shares of the Munich-based online luxury fashion retailer MyTheresa had risen so sharply on its IPO on Wall Street that the company was worth more than $ 3 billion (EUR 2.47 billion). According to one of the banks involved in the IPO, Auto1 would be valued at around seven to eight billion euros after its stock market debut. Up to 26.4 percent of the shares would then be in free float. Vodafone's radio tower subsidiary Vantage, which wants to go public in Frankfurt, is also in the starting blocks.
Auto1 itself sells – depending on the issue price – a maximum of 31.25 million shares from a capital increase, so that one billion euros will flow into the Berlin startup. Auto1 wants to put three quarters of this into further growth and use the rest to repay a convertible bond. “We look forward to broadening our investor base and want to invest significantly in the further development of the Autohero brand and our operational business over the next few years,” said CEO and co-founder Christian Bertermann. The feedback from potential investors was positive. Auto1 already has firm commitments from two anchor investors for shares worth EUR 300 million.
Above all, Autohero – the brand for the direct sale of cars to private customers – is intended to boost growth, which was significantly slowed by the corona crisis. To this end, marketing is to be expanded, customer advisors are to be hired and additional vans are to be purchased to bring the cars to the customers. In the third quarter, Auto1 was operating in the black for the first time.
The existing shareholders – of which the Japanese tech investor Softbank is the largest with 20 percent – want to sell 15.63 million shares in the course of the IPO; if there is greater demand, they will provide up to 7.03 million shares as a placement reserve. The company founders still hold around 30 percent of the company.
