Analysts at banks managing Amundi Group's initial public offering estimate Europe's largest money manager should be valued at about €8 billion euros ($9 billion), three people with knowledge of the matter said.
Amundi, which is currently owned by Credit Agricole and Societe Generale, may publish its offer document as soon as Wednesday and aims to complete the IPO by November, the people said, asking not to be identified because the preparations are private.
Amundi is proceeding with the sale after global stock markets sank in the third quarter, marking their worst performance since 2011, amid concern that China's slowdown may reduce economic growth elsewhere. BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager and a likely peer for investors to compare with Amundi, is down 13% since June 17 — the date that plans for the public offering were announced.
Investment banks advising on an IPO typically canvass institutional investor interest to help determine the best valuation range for a company before the sale is opened for orders.
Societe Generale in June said it wants to sell its entire 20% stake in the company, while Credit Agricole has signaled it wants to remain as Amundi's largest investor, without indicating how much stock it intends to sell, the people said.
Representatives for Amundi, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale declined to comment.
Societe Generale CEO Frederic Oudea said last week he was “confident” Amundi's IPO would proceed as planned amid investor appetite for European financial assets. Amundi had €954 billion in assets under management at the end of June. Schroders, currently Europe's largest publicly traded money manager, had about £310 billion pounds ($487 million) under management at the end of June, while BlackRock had about $4.2 trillion.
