The first price was set at $41, eleven percent below the issue price of $46. Surprisingly, the bankers did not set the price at the upper end of the range of $44 to $49, but rather slightly below the middle in order to avoid disappointment at the initial listing.
Initially it looked like the health shoe manufacturer would be well received on Wall Street, but later indications pointed to a slide in prices. It was only after three hours that an equilibrium between supply and demand was achieved.
The share placement previously brought in almost $1.5 billion (around €1.4 billion). About two thirds of this go to the main owner L Catterton, who is linked to the luxury group LVMH and its billionaire boss Bernard Arnault.
Birkenstock, headquartered in Linz am Rhein in Rhineland-Palatinate, was valued at around 8.6 billion dollars (around 8.1 billion euros) at the issue price. L Catterton will retain control of the shoe specialist after the IPO.
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