ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss mobile telecoms company Sunrise priced its initial public offering (IPO) at between 58 and 78 Swiss francs per share on Tuesday, giving the company an implied market value of up to 3.3 billion francs (2.42 billion pounds).
The first day of trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange is expected to be on or before Feb. 6, the firm said, in what is potentially Switzerland's biggest flotation since 2006.
Sunrise -- Switzerland's No. 2 telecoms operator behind Swisscom (VX:SCMN) and the latest planned capital raising in a lively start to 2015 for European equity markets -- wants to raise 1.35 billion francs to help cut its debt.
The move is also seen as making it easier for Sunrise to merge with Orange Switzerland, recently bought by telecoms tycoon Xavier Niel's NJJ Capital, in order to put up stronger competition to Swisscom, though there is little sign that any deal plans currently exist.
Sunrise said its plans to list its shares would not be affected by the Swiss National Bank's decision to abandon its franc cap earlier this month, as the firm earns all of its revenue in francs while the majority of its debt is in euros.