MILAN/FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp (ETR:TKAG) Nucera is expected to be valued at more than 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in its planned initial public offering (IPO), according to four people familiar with the matter, with a listing pencilled in for early July.
Investor briefings are ongoing and are expected to conclude by the end of the week, the people said, as Thyssenkrupp seeks to quickly seal the listing for the hydrogen business, which could become Europe's largest IPO this year.
The valuation, which narrows a previously reported 2 billion to 5 billion euro range, remains a moving target and could still change in the run up to the listing, depending on investor appetite for the share sale.
Last week, WE Soda, a producer of natural soda ash, abandoned plans to go public in London after investor feedback fell short of its valuation expectations.
While there have been few sizeable listings in Europe this year, the VIX, an index that measures investor fear and is used as a gauge for listings, is now at one of its lowest levels since February 2020.
This, along with a flurry of stock sales by companies, suggests that the market for IPOs could be thawing.
If markets remain stable, shares of Thyssenkrupp Nucera, a 66:34 joint venture between Thyssenkrupp and Italy's De Nora, could start trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange in the first week of July, the people said.
No final decisions have been made as talks with investors are ongoing, the people said.
"The timing at the moment is very attractive for the hydrogen economy," said Marc Tuengler of DSW, a lobby group that represents Thyssenkrupp's private shareholders, citing broad political support for the technology.
"The momentum is clearly there, which is why an IPO of Nucera makes sense now."
Thyssenkrupp and De Nora both declined to comment.
Thyssenkrupp Nucera has been in talks with potential anchor shareholders, including long-only investors and pension funds with a clear focus on decarbonisation, a theme central to Nucera and its rivals, the people said.
Boosted by government efforts to cut emission in industrial production, hydrogen is considered one of the technologies able to achieve substantial CO2 reduction in the making of cement, steel and chemicals.
Most notably, the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act has provided a boost to industrial scale hydrogen projects, which has led Nucera to consider building up capacity there to meet what is expected to be a surge in demand.
Thyssenkrupp Nucera earlier on Wednesday received another capacity reservation for electrolyser capacity in the high triple digit megawatt range for a project in North America from an unnamed industry player.
($1 = 0.9158 euros)