The American record industry giant Warner Music Group, which hosts artists such as Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Cardi B among its various labels, has become the largest IPO so far in 2020 with the sale of 77 million of shares priced at $ 25, which will report $ 1,925 million (€ 1,715 million) to the current owners of the company, which will begin trading on the Nasdaq this Wednesday under the symbol ‘WMG’, after having deferred in March your plans.
The company, owned by the Access Industries group, founded by Ukrainian-born investor Leonard Blavatnik, has set a price of $ 25 a share for its jump to the park, having pointed out a range of $ 23 to $ 26 last week, and it has finally raised to 77 million the shares sold by the owner of the company, instead of the 70 million originally planned.
Likewise, in the end, the banks that subscribe to the operation will have the right to buy an additional package of 11.55 million ordinary shares over the next 30 days, compared to the 10.5 million originally foreseen, which could eventually increase the figure. raised to 2,213.7 million dollars (1,971 million euros)
In the booklet of the operation, registered last week with the Securities Market Commission (SEC), the third largest record company in the world warns that “it will not receive any amount for the sale of shares carried out by the shareholders in this offer “, which will consist of shares sold by Access Industries and other current shareholders.
Warner Music Group announced that it plans to establish the payment of a quarterly cash dividend of $ 0.12 per share, the first disbursement of which would take place next September.
Warner Music Group obtained an attributable net profit of 46 million dollars (42 million euros) in the first half of its fiscal year, which ended on March 31, representing a 70% decrease compared to the first six months of its previous year, while the company’s turnover increased by 1.5%, to 2,327 million dollars (2,124 million euros).
