SSP shares begin trading after IPO

10th Jul 2014 14:47

Shares in train station food outlet operator SSP Group received a lukewarm welcome as unconditional dealings began on Thursday, having raised almost £0.5bn for the company to pay down debt and around £15m for selling shareholders. With former long-time WH Smith boss Kate Swann at the helm, SSP is expected to be included in the FTSE 250 at the next index review.The company, which operates around 2,000 outlets across 29 countries for the likes of M&S Simply Food, Costa, Starbucks and Burger King, was valued initially at almost £1bn at its initial public offer price of 210p. The shares, of which Swedish private equity owner EQT is expected to remain the major shareholder, topped 223p in conditional dealing between brokers earlier in the week but have since slipped to 216.44p.EQT bought SSP from Compass Group in 2006 for £1.8bn, using more than £1bn of leverage.OH