(BFM Bourse) – Swiss cement and concrete giant Holcim has announced that it is aiming for a separate listing on Wall Street of its North American activities for the first half of 2025.
Swiss construction materials giant Holcim announced on Sunday its intention to separately list its North American operations on the stock market by the first half of 2025, hoping to value them at more than $30 billion (€27.7 billion). ). On Monday, its share price jumped on the stock market.
“This activity that we have in North America is a rock star,” declared Jan Jenisch, the president of the Swiss group, during a conference call, presenting this split as a “natural” evolution for the group. Considerably strengthened by acquisitions, this North American branch is experiencing growth of around 20% per year, with its turnover approaching $11 billion last year.
The group, however, intends to grow its sales beyond $20 billion by 2030, thanks to strong demand for individual homes, infrastructure projects but also measures promoting the “reindustrialization” of the United States, said -he explained.
A buoyant wind with the IRA
With an envelope of 370 billion dollars, the investment plan of the administration of President Joe Biden – called the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) – encourages the production in particular of electric vehicles, batteries, charging stations, solar panels and wind turbines, which encourages companies to invest on American soil and build factories there, in turn supporting the growth of construction materials manufacturers like Holcim.
Holcim has already won more than a hundred infrastructure projects, quantified Jan Jenisch. And “I don’t see any risk that this will change,” he said as Americans must go to the polls for the presidential election in November.
“If the current president and the former president appear different, their economic policies are very consistent,” he said. According to him, the reindustrialization of the United States will “probably remain a priority for any government.”
“This reindustrialization is in full swing and will not stop whatever the outcome of the elections in November,” he added during a conference for financial analysts.
To accelerate growth
Boss of the group since 2017, Jan Jenisch was entrusted with the presidency of Holcim in 2023 but had temporarily retained management so that the group could give itself time to choose a successor. On Sunday, Holcim announced that the position of general manager will be entrusted from May to Miljan Gutovic, the current director of activities in Europe, while specifying that Jan Jenisch will be responsible for carrying out the IPO of the company. North American branch.
Stifel analysts immediately expected that this IPO project would cause the share price to jump, even if once the news was “digested”, the market would take the time to think and become interested. “to the details,” they wrote in a note.
After gaining more than 6% in the first exchanges, the stock gave up part of its initial gains, appreciating 4.1% around 2:20 p.m., to 66.80 Swiss francs. The SMI, the flagship index of the Swiss Stock Exchange, appreciated by 0.2%.
With this decision, Mark Diethelm, analyst at Vontobel, believes that Holcim is “taking the step” towards the next stage of its growth. Once separated, this North American branch will be “supported by a local management team”, which should “help accelerate its growth”, he judges in a market commentary.
To proceed with this IPO, Holcim will have to obtain the green light from its shareholders during an extraordinary general meeting, the date of which has not yet been communicated.
In a note, Glynis Johnson, analyst at Jefferies, sought to identify possible objections that shareholders could raise. Reluctance could come in particular from those who do not wish to keep securities in the United States, and could in particular be concerned about the distribution of debts between the North American branch and the rest of Holcim’s activities, she speculates. .
Debt had been one of the major points of contention among Holcim shareholders during the 2015 merger with French company Lafarge.
(With AFP)
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