Frankfurt; Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Close Brothers Seydler Bank as sole global coordinator and sole book runner on the IPO of Germany’s long-established publishing house Bastei Lübbe AG. A total of 4 million shares at an offering price of €7.50 per share could be placed, among those 3.3 million shares from a capital increase in Bastei Lübbe AG. Gross proceeds amounted to €30 million and shall be used, primarily, to further develop the digital book business. Trading of the shares started on 8 October 2013 in the regulated market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Prime Standard).

With a staff of 265 and annual revenues of approximately €100 million, Cologne-based Bastei Lübbe AG is the largest family-owned company in the German publishing industry. The publishing house, which was founded in 1953, is known for the German-language editions of popular international bestsellers such as The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons by Dan Brown and The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. Principal shareholder of the media company is Stefan Lübbe. Following the IPO, the family of publishers remains the main shareholder with a 58 percent holding.

Two years ago, Bastei Lübbe issued a corporate bond (so-called Mittelstandsanleihe) in an amount of €30 million, where Norton Rose Fulbright also acted as advisor to Close Brothers.

The team advising on the IPO was led by Frank Peter Regelin with support by Sascha Grimm and associate Stefan Kutscheid (all Frankfurt).