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Switzerland's Stadler Rail, Medacta Explore IPOs

Switzerland's Stadler Rail, Medacta Explore IPOs

(Bloomberg) -- Stadler Rail AG and Medacta International are among Swiss companies weighing initial public offerings for next year, according to people familiar with the matter.

Stadler, which reported revenue of 2.4 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in financial year 2017, is meeting advisers about a potential share sale, the people said, asking not to be identified as the details aren’t public. Medacta is working with investment bank Rothschild as it considers strategic options, they said.

A spokeswoman for Stadler Rail said that an IPO is one option the company is considering. A final decision hasn’t been made, she said. Representatives for Medacta and Rothschild declined to comment.

Swiss companies have raised $1.8 billion from IPOs this year, compared with $4.5 billion in 2017, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. There’s a growing pipeline of Swiss listings for this year and next, with Swiss juice-box maker SIG Combibloc Group announcing earlier this week plans to raise about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion).

Stadler Rail is majority owned by Peter Spuhler, who acquired the company in 1989 and built the Bussnang, Switzerland-based company from 18 employees into a regional train and tram maker with more than 7,000 workers, according to its website. He ran the company for almost 30 years before handing over that role a year ago to Thomas Ahlburg.

Medacta, which makes and distributes orthopedic and neurosurgical medical devices, operates in more than 30 countries, according to its website. The company could appoint more banks to manage an IPO in the coming months, the people said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Kirchfeld in London at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net;Jan-Henrik Förster in Zurich at jforster20@bloomberg.net;Ruth David in London at rdavid9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, ;Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, Matthew Monks, Michael Hytha

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