By Thomas Escritt
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The owner of optician GrandVision BV aims to raise as much as 1.3 billion euros (1 billion pounds) through an initial public offering of up to 23 percent of its shares, pricing the company in line with analyst expectations.
GrandVision, the world's largest optical retailer, has more than 5,600 stores in 43 countries in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia. It trades under brands such as Vision Express in Britain and Apollo-Optik in Germany.
The institutional offer period runs until February 5, the company said in a statement on Monday. Shares are expected to start trading on the Amsterdam stock exchange the following day and the company will be valued at up to 5.4 billion euros.
The pricing values the company between its two closest rivals, Germany's Fielmann (DE:FIEG) and Italy's Luxottica (MI:LUX), KBC analyst Yves Franco said.
"The IPO was postponed amid market turmoil last October amid weak consumer confidence at the time, but they had a good start to 2015 with attractive markets in Europe again," Franco said.
In its prospectus, the company said it aimed to pay dividends of 25 to 50 percent of profits.
INVESTOR INTEREST
Optical retailers are attracting investor interest because of the growth opportunities offered by population ageing. They are shielded from online competition by the need for an optician to conduct vision tests in person.
The shares are being sold by HAL Trust, the investment vehicle of the Dutch Van der Vorm family, which owns 98 percent of the shares.
HAL, which is based on the Caribbean island of Curacao, set an indicative price range for the shares of between 17.50 and 21.50 euros.
That values the share sale at between 893 million and 1.1 billion euros, or up to 1.3 billion if an over-allotment option is fully exercised.
GrandVision reported an operating profit of 223 million euros on 2.1 billion in sales for the first nine months of 2014.
Earlier this month, the company's chief executive Theo Kiesselbach told Reuters the listing would raise the company's profile with suppliers and customers and help it attract good employees and give it financial flexibility.
The company has long-term debt of 794 million euros. Kiesselbach said earlier that its debt levels were at an appropriate level for it to be able to fund future growth, pursue acquisitions and pay a dividend.