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Deutsche prices $1B float
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February 4, 2001: 6:29 a.m. ET
Huge investor demand helps value Frankfurt exchange at $3.2B
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LONDON (CNN) - Deutsche Boerse priced its initial public offering at 335 euros on Sunday, valuing the operator of the Frankfurt stock exchange at 3.4 billion euros ($3.2 billion).
The exchange had indicated a likely price range of between  285 and 335 per share. The high price achieved in the sale reflects strong investor interest in the flotation, and an exchange spokesman told CNN.com on Sunday the issue was 23 times oversubscribed.
Deutsche Boerse will raise some 1.1 billion ($1 billion) from the sale of the shres.
The shares will start trading in Frankfurt on Monday, and the strength of demand means they will probably go to an immediate premium. 20 percent of the new shares sold were awarded to retail investors, and 27 percent of the exchange's capital is now in new hands, the spkesman added.
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. Deutsche has already failed in one attempt to buy the London Stock Exchange.
Deutsche Boerse will 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,
especially 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. 
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