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The iconic boot brand Dr. Martens began its initial public offering in style, pre-listing on Friday at the top of its announced range, and then seeing an immediate 17% bump. London’s FTSE, meanwhile, opened in the red on Friday, before falling further.
The offer price of £3.70 ($5.06) per share meant Dr. Martens started the trading day with a market capitalization of around £3.7 billion. With 350 million shares going into the IPO—mostly from IngreLux, a Luxembourg-based firm owned by funds that are advised by private equity outfit Permira—35% of Dr. Martens’ issued share capital was on offer, at a total offer size of £1.295 billion.
The offer price and size indicate the offer was eight times oversubscribed. It makes for the biggest U.K. IPO since e-commerce firm THG’s September flotation, which raised $2.4 billion.
“We have been delighted by the strong levels of interest, engagement, and support from such a high quality selection of institutional investors,” said CEO Kenny Wilson in the offer-price announcement.
If there is sufficient demand, Dr. Martens’ investors have the option to sell a further 52.5 million shares, which would mean just over 40% of the company’s issued share capital would be in public hands once the IPO is complete.
Once institutional investors have had their turn, regular trading on the London Stock Exchange will commence Wednesday, using the ticker DOCS.
Permira had been exploring options for offloading Dr. Martens since mid-2019, and now’s as good a time as any: The company’s group revenue rose 18% in the six months ended Sept. 30, and the markets are currently in a good place, especially for e-commerce—an increasing focus for Dr. Martens in recent years, and a sector that’s naturally been thriving in the pandemic.
The United Kingdom stood out in Europe’s IPO market last year. According to PwC, 30 IPOs in London raised £6.0 billion ($7.65 billion) in 2020, bang in line with the capital raised the prior year. The number of IPOs was higher.
