NKF advises the underwriters on the IPO of gategroup Holding AG on SIX Swiss Exchange

On 14 March 2018, gategroup Holding AG (“gategroup”) announced the launch of its initial public offering (“IPO”) on SIX Swiss Exchange. The IPO comprises a primary offering of up to 21,875,000 newly issued shares, a secondary offering of 54,220,000 existing shares to be sold by the selling shareholder (a HNA Group entity), and an additional up to 7,609,500 existing shares to cover an over-allotment option granted to the underwriters. Secondary proceeds are expected to be CHF 989m to CHF 1,287m (including over-allotments), and primary proceeds are expected to be approximately CHF 350m. The market capitalization of the company following the IPO is expected to be CHF 2,064m to CHF 2,618m. The first trading day is anticipated to be 27 March 2018.

Measured by revenues, gategroup is the world’s largest provider of airline catering, retail-on-board and hospitality products and services. Headquartered in Glattbrugg, Switzerland, in 2017 it generated CHF 4.6bn in revenues and had 42,500 employees.

The underwriters of the IPO were Credit Suisse AG and UBS AG (Joint Global Coordinators and Joint Bookrunners), J.P. Morgan Securities plc (Joint Bookrunner) and Banco Santander S.A., ING Bank N.V., Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG and UniCredit Bank AG (Co-Bookrunners).

NKF acted as Swiss counsel to the underwriters. Linklaters LLP acted as U.S. counsel to the underwriters.The NKF team was Philippe Weber, partner, Thomas M. Brönnimann, partner, Christina Del Vecchio, counsel, Deirdre Ní Annracháin, associate, and Pascal Hodel, junior associate.