WE Soda, the world’s largest producer of natural soda ash, on Wednesday unveiled plans for a listing on London’s main bourse, injecting life into a market that has been struggling to attract new listings.
(Bloomberg) — WE Soda, the world’s largest producer of natural soda ash, on Wednesday unveiled plans for a listing on London’s main bourse, injecting life into a market that has been struggling to attract new listings.
The company’s controlling shareholder, Turkish industrial conglomerate Ciner Group, will sell shares in the initial public offering, according to a statement. At least 10% of the share capital will be available for trading, in line with new London listing rules.
Based on a Bloomberg News report from March, WE Soda will seek a market capitalization significantly higher than the roughly $5 billion it had earlier aimed for after its profits jumped.
The listing will help boost London’s flagging IPO market, where just under $600 million has been raised so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Rising interest rates, heightened inflation and volatile markets have kept investors on the sidelines, with some now selectively putting money in stable, cash-generative assets.
WE Soda has had “a very broad dialog” with investors and “some extremely supportive meetings and feedback,” said Nicholas Hall, the firm’s chief strategy and risk officer, who was previously a managing director at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
The company’s listing decision was also helped in part by rule changes in London allowing companies to reduce the free float, that is the proportion of shares available to the public for trading, to 10% from 25%, given its large size, he said by phone.
WE Soda, which is one of the lowest cost producers of soda ash globally, produced about 5 million metric tons of natural soda ash and sodium bicarbonate in 2022.
Soda ash is primarily used for glass-making and is also a key ingredient for chemicals used in lithium ion batteries, which could add to demand in the future. While most of global supply is produced synthetically using brine and limestone in an energy-intensive process, WE Soda extracts it in its mineral form at sites in Turkey. It also has a new greenfield project in Wyoming that’s expected to come on stream before 2030.
Ciner Group also has a presence in the energy, shipping and media industries. It operates the BloombergHT television channel in Turkey under a deal with Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.
BNP Paribas SA, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan are joint global coordinators on the offering, while Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc, Liberum, Morgan Stanley, MUFG and Numis Corp. are joint bookrunners.
(Adds executive’s comments in fifth and sixth paragraphs, banks in last)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.