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Buyers chase F'furt Boerse
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February 2, 2001: 7:43 a.m. ET
German stock exchange IPO 25 times oversubscribed; price at 'top end' of range
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LONDON (CNN) - Deutsche Boerse's initial public offering is about 25 times oversubscribed, a source close to the deal told CNN.com on Friday.
The final price of the offering, which Deutsche Boerse expects to raise around  940 million ($884 million), is to be fixed this weekend.
The enthusiasm of investors for the shares is likely to mean the stock goes to an immediate premium when trading starts on Monday morning.
Reuters quoted banking sources as saying the per-share price will be at the top end of the 285 to 335 bookbuilding range, valuing the German stock exchange operator at 3.4 billion ($3.2 billion).
The company, majority-owned by a collection of banks, needs the shares to act as a currency in the next round of European stock market consolidation.
"There are some big institutional investors who want a chunk of this company and can't get it so they will be forced to buy in the after-market," Reuters quoted a banking source with the consortium leading the flotation.
A spokesman for Deutsche Boerse declined comment.
Deutsche Boerse plans to float about a third of its capital, or 3.2 million shares, consisting largely of a capital increase of 2,936,000 shares, including 390,000 in a "greenshoe" option in the event of excess demand.
A further 264,000 shares are being sold by the banks, brokers and regional exchanges which currently own the group.
Deutsche's initial public offering will be widely watched by other bourses, including Euronext which is planning to go public in May. Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris merged last year to create Euronext, Europe's No. 2 exchange.
By market capitalisation, Deutsche Boerse will be bigger than Sweden's OM Gruppen, which is valued at about $2.2 billion, while the London Stock Exchange is worth about $1 billion. London is Europe's largest stock exchange by the value of shares traded, followed by Euronext and Frankfurt.
Deutsche Bank, the biggest single shareholder, and investment bank Goldman Sachs are joint global coordinators with for the IPO.
--from staff and wire reports 
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