NEW YORK-The government of Finland plans to sell a 20-percent stake in Sonera Ltd. through an initial public offering of stock Nov. 17 that it hopes will raise between $1 billion and $1.8 billion.
Sonera, formerly called Telecom Finland, derives nearly half of its revenues from mobile wireless telecommunications.
Despite recent stock market volatility, even the low end of the capital amount Sonera expects to raise in November has increased substantially since February when the federal government estimated the IPO would bring in about $726 million.
As part of its partial privatization through an IPO, Sonera will be spun off from the Suomen PT Group, which also owns Finland’s postal service.
A total of 100.15 million shares of Sonera will be offered to institutional investors and 26 million to retail investors. If demand exceeds supply, up to 18.85 million additional shares can be offered to institutional buyers and 13 million more to retail purchasers.
A share price range of $7.27 to $9.09 was established in mid-October.
Merrill Lynch International and Merita Corporate Finance, lead underwriters of the offering, will set the final price Nov. 9. The shares will begin trading on the Helsinki Stock Exchange Nov. 17.
