Italy’s De Nora shares fall on market debut

By Francesco Zecchini

MILAN (Reuters) -Shares in Italy’s Industrie De Nora made a disappointing start on Thursday, falling 2.8% after the group became the first major company to list on the stock market in Milan since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Electrode maker De Nora had priced its IPO at 13.50 euros per share, at the bottom of its price range, valuing the 2.7 billion euros ($2.9 billion).

After opening down 0.6% at 13.40 euros, the shares extended losses and were down 2.8% at 0920 GMT, underperforming Milan’s all-share index, down 2.4%.

De Nora CEO Paolo Dellacha shrugged off the move.

“We very much look to the long term and are not influenced by temporary fluctuations,” he told reporters at an event to mark the launch at the Milan Stock Exchange.

De Nora’s listing comes when the IPO market has dried up across Europe.

The company is getting 200 million euros in fresh funds while existing shareholders including its founding family and Italian gas grid operator Snam will pocket 345 million.

Founded in 1923, the group is a leading manufacturer of electrodes for devices such as rechargeable batteries and also makes systems for water filtration and wastewater treatment as well as components to produce green hydrogen.

The Garrone Mondini family, which controls Italian energy company ERG, and the family office of Ruthi Wertheimer, which specialises in minority long-term investments in advanced technology industrial firms, each pledged to invest up to 100 million euros in the IPO.

“We can cooperate with De Nora to achieve good outcomes,” Luca Bettonte, an executive with the Garrone family’s San Quirico holding, told Reuters, noting that there are possible synergies between Erg and Industrie De Nora.

Rothschild is acting as advisor of San Quirico, a source told Reuters on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Francesco ZecchiniEditing by Giulia Segreti and Keith Weir)