Last checked at 
* Hydrogen business rebranded Nucera
* Nucera could be floated in IPO in spring
* Nucera had sales of 319 mln euros, EBIT of 27 mln in
2020/21
(Adds details on market size)
By Christoph Steitz and Tom Käckenhoff
FRANKFURT/DUESSELDORF, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp's
electrolysis business is aiming for proceeds of up to
600 million euros ($687 million) by selling new shares in a
possible initial public offering this year, betting on the $130
billion hydrogen sector it supplies.
Thyssenkrupp plans to keep a majority in the business -
which is being rebranded as Thyssenkrupp Nucera - following any
IPO and aims to maintain the current shareholding ratio with its
Italian co-owner De Nora <IPO-DENR.MI>, said Volkmar Dinstuhl,
who leads the conglomerate's Multi Tracks division.
This implies a free-float of up to 25%.
Nucera's electrolysis technology uses power to split water
into oxygen and hydrogen, allowing CO2 heavy sectors, including
steelmaking, refining and fertilisers, to decarbonise using
"green" hydrogen.
Hydrogen production, a market Precedence Research says was
worth $130 billion in 2020, is benefiting from Europe's efforts
to become a world leader in this technology, which could play a
big role in attempts to cut emissions and decarbonise economies.
The 500 million-600 million in potential IPO proceeds would
correspond to a stake sale of roughly 10-20% based on a
valuation range of 3 billion to 6 billion euros that analysts
have put on the division, which could be listed in the spring.
Thyssenkrupp Nucera is the world's top supplier of
chlor-alkali membrane technologies needed to produce hydrogen,
competing with Japan's Asahi Kasei, China's Bluestar
Beijing Chemical Machinery and Britain's chemicals group Ineos
.
It is also active in alkaline water electrolysis, a key
requirement for the generation of hydrogen produced via
renewable energy, pitting it against Norway's Nel ASA,
UK's ITM Power and France's McPhy Energy SAS.
HUGE DEMAND
"Demand is huge. We want to use that opportunity," Denis
Krude, CEO of Thyssenkrupp Nucera, told Reuters ahead of a
capital markets on Thursday where investors are getting more
detail on the business for the first time.
"We are a technology leader for electrolysis and have been
in the business for decades," Krude, who has led the division
since October 2016, added.
So far green hydrogen has been far more expensive than
versions produced using fossil fuel, including the dominant
"grey" hydrogen that relies on natural gas, but rising gas
prices have started to change the economics.
In the fiscal year to end-September, Thyssenkrupp Nucera
posted earnings before interest and tax of 27 million euros,
while sales came in at 319 million, a level expected to triple
to 900 million to 1 billion by 2025/26.
The potential proceeds from selling new shares do not factor
in the sale of existing stakes by current owners Thyssenkrupp
and De Nora, which own Thyssenkrupp Nucera in a 66/34 split.
Thyssenkrupp, which first floated the idea of an IPO of its
hydrogen business in May last year, declined to say how much it
would sell as part of a secondary offering in case of an IPO.
"The market has enormous potential," Krude said, adding
Nucera would invest 200 million to 300 million by 2024/25, of
which 150 million-200 million will be spent on strategic moves
including partnerships, production and smaller deals.
Thyssenkrupp, which makes everything from steel and
submarines to car parts and fertiliser plants, sees an IPO as
the preferred option for Nucera but has not made a final
decision.
"For the Thyssenkrupp group the most important thing in a
possible IPO is the so-called value crystallisation," said
Dinstuhl.
($1 = 0.8738 euro)
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt and Tom Kaeckenhoff
in Duesseldorf; editing by Matthew Lewis and Jane Merriman)
