Amsterdam – 27 March 2015– Shares in Refresco Gerber N.V., the leading European bottler of soft drinks and fruit juices for retailers and A-brand owners, today began trading on Euronext’s Amsterdam market, after its successful Initial Public Offering (IPO). The total offer size came to € 548.1 million.
Refresco Gerber has a manufacturing footprint in the Benelux, France, Germany, Iberia, Italy, the UK, Poland and Finland. It offers an extensive range of product and packaging combinations from 100% fruit juices to carbonated soft drinks and mineral waters in carton, PET, aseptic PET, cans and glass. Refresco Gerber is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The price was set at € 14.50 per share.The total market capitalization of the company before opening was approximately € 1.18 billion.
Hans Roelofs, CEO of Refresco Gerber said: “The IPO is an important milestone for Refresco Gerber. After many years of succesful private ownership, having done 13 acquisitions in the past 15 years, we feel that a stock exchange listing fits our profile and will support us in effectively implementing our strategy going forward. Access to the capital markets will enable us to capture the continuing growth opportunities we see in our industry. The strong demand we have seen from investors and the high level of support for our buy-an-build strategy give us confidence for the future as a listed company and we look forward to continue on this ambitious path with our new shareholders in the years to come.”
“It is a great pleasure to welcome Refresco Gerber to the Amsterdam exchange, an important gateway to international capital markets”, said Maurice van Tilburg, CEO of Euronext Amsterdam.“Growing from a local juice manufacturer into a leading pan-European bottler, Refresco Gerber is a great example of entrepreneurship. The listing is part of its strategy to realize further organic growth and we are committed to support the company in achieving its goals via our market. It is the heart of our mission as an exchange to support entrepreneurship and to finance the real economy.”
Anne Louise Metz, Head of Listings of Euronext Amsterdam, added: “We congratulate the whole Refresco Gerber team with their successful IPO. The listing on our market will create visibility for the company in global capital markets, giving it access to a deep and diverse pool of investors.”
Refresco Gerber celebrated the company’s listing by having Hans Roelofs sound the gong which denotes the opening of trading on Euronext.