LONDON - The Danish outsourcing company ISS said on Tuesday that it hoped to raise the equivalent of as much as $1.47 billion from an initial public offering on the NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen exchange.
ISS gave no timetable for the offering but said that it intended to use the anticipated proceeds, 8 billion Danish kroner, to repay its existing credit lines this year.
“The intended I.P.O. is expected to support our operational strategy, advance our public and commercial profile, provide us with improved access to public capital markets and a diversified base of new private and institutional shareholders both in Denmark and internationally,†said Jeff Gravenhorst, the chief executive of ISS.
ISS is one of the world’s largest private employers with more than 530,000 people worldwide. It provides businesses with services like cleaning, catering, security and building management.
ISS posted revenue of 78.5 billion Danish kroner in 2013. The company had been acquired in 2005 for about $4 billion by the Swedish private equity firm EQT Partners and funds advised by Goldman Sachs. ISS had sought to go public twice since then, but delayed offerings in 2007 and in 2011.
EQT and the Goldman funds, which combined own about 73 percent of the company, are expected to reduce their stakes through the I.P.O.
Two other institutional shareholders, Kirkbi, the Danish investment company that owns Lego, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan are not expected to sell their shares. Together, they own about 26 percent of ISS.
