LONDON - The Danish outsourcing company ISS rose 13 percent in its debut on the Nasdaq OMX Copenhagen exchange on Thursday.
The company, which provides services like cleaning, catering and security, priced its initial public offering at 160 Danish kroner, giving it a market capitalization of 29.6 billion kroner, or about $5.5 billion. The company’s shares were trading at 180.50 kroner.
ISS, which was acquired in 2005 by the Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners and funds advised by Goldman Sachs, had previously sought to go public twice, but delayed offerings in 2007 and in 2011.
The company raised about 8 billion kroner in its offering. EQT and Goldman will remain the company’s largest shareholders. The proceeds of the sale will be used to reduce debt.
The ISS debut is the latest public offering in recent months involving private equity firms looking to cash in on their investments in a favorable trading environment.
Two British companies, Pets at Home, a pet store retailer, and Poundland, a discount retailer that sells everything for a pound or less, both began trading in London on Wednesday.
ISS is one of the world’s largest private employers with more than 530,000 people worldwide. The company posted revenue of 78.5 billion Danish kroner in 2013.
