* 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 potential shareholder structure)
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
booming hydrogen sector it supplies with equipment.
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%.
The 500 million-600 million in potential 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.
"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, said.
In the fiscal year that ended in September, Thyssenkrupp
Nucera posted earnings before interest and tax of 27 million
euros while sales came in at 319 million euros, a level expected
to triple to 900 million to 1 billion euros 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.
Europe, most notably Germany, wants to be a world leader in
green hydrogen, which is generated via renewable sources and is
carbon-neutral, to cut emissions and decarbonise its economy.
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)
Itm Power (ITM)