Prysmian in €1.24 Billion IPO

Cleary Gottlieb represented Goldman Sachs International, JP Morgan and Mediobanca-Banca di Credito Finanziario S.p.A. as joint global coordinators and joint lead managers in the initial public offering of Prysmian S.p.A., an Italian based energy and telecom cables company. The offering raised gross proceeds of more than €1.24 billion for selling shareholder Prysmian (Lux) II S.à r.l, which is controlled by Goldman Sachs.

The initial offering, which closed on May 3, consisted of 72,000,000 Prysmian ordinary shares now listed on the Mercato Telematico Azionario managed by Borsa Italiana, which were offered to Italian retail investors pursuant to an Italian-language prospectus, and to Italian and international institutional investors in accordance with Rule 144A/Regulation S. The joint global coordinators have since exercised an option to purchase an additional 10,800,000 shares from the selling shareholder for stabilizing and to cover over-allotments and short positions.

The Prysmian IPO is Italy’s largest this year. Cleary Gottlieb has been counsel in the largest Italian equity offerings in each of the last three years.

Prysmian is a leading developer, designer, manufacturer, supplier and installer of cables for applications in the energy and telecommunications industries. Founded in 1872, it long formed part of the Pirelli Group prior to its 2005 acquisition by Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. Prysmian is one of the world’s largest producers of energy and telecom cables, and the world’s second largest producer of fiber optic cables and related accessories. Notable for its geographic reach, Prysmian operates in Europe, Africa, North, Central and South America, Asia and Oceania.