Iberia Won't Join In April Amadeus IPO

Iberia has decided not to join Air France and Lufthansa, which are selling part of their stakes in Amadeus when the Madrid-based travel technology company starts trading shares on April 29. Amadeus announced both the news about Iberia and the expected opening trading date as its initial public offering of shares began yesterday.

Amadeus hopes to reap €910 million to repay company debt through issuing 85 million new shares. Private equity firms BC Partners and Cinven, as well as Lufthansa and Air France, all existing private shareholders in the company also are making a secondary offering of 35 million shares. This quartet of shareholders has elected to offload 20 percent to 30 percent of their shares, but Iberia is holding on to its entire stake.

"Iberia thinks it can maximize its value by retaining its stake," a spokesman for Amadeus told BTN. Prior to the IPO, Iberia owned 11.6 percent of Amadeus, as did Lufthansa, while Air France owned 23.1 percent and the two private equity partners, 52.8 percent combined.

Amadeus said current and former management also would offer 1.7 million shares for sale. The total offering will represent at least 25 percent of the share capital of the company once the IPO is completed.