Dr. Martens owners to raise $1.78 billion in London IPO

By Abhinav Ramnarayan and Tanishaa Nadkar

(Reuters) - The owners of Dr. Martens aim to raise close to 1.3 billion pounds ($1.78 billion) from a London listing of the classic British boot brand, according to a lead manager.

The company, known for its yellow stitching and chunky soles, will sell 350 million existing shares somewhere between 330 and 370 pence per share, according to a bookrunner.

This suggests a deal size of between 1.15-1.295 billion pounds and a valuation of around 3.3-3.7 billion pounds.

A second bookrunner said later that the deal was "covered" throughout the range on the full deal size; which means that investor demand has matched the targeted deal size at the top end of the price range.

Dr. Martens is one of several IPOs that have kicked off in Europe this year, as issuers look up to make up for a quiet 2020, when the spread of COVID-19 wreaked havoc on economies and dulled stock market listing volumes in Europe.

E-card retailer Moonpig is also making preparations for a London IPO, while on the continent Poland's InPost looks set for an Amsterdam listing and AUTO1 is on track for a Frankfurt listing.

Private equity fund Permira, which bought Dr. Martens in 2014 for 380 million euros, will sell part of its stake in the IPO alongside other existing shareholders.

Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are joint global co-ordinators for the offering, and Barclays, HSBC, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and RBC Europe are joint bookrunners. Lazard is a financial adviser.

(Reporting by Tanishaa Nadkar in Bengaluru and Abhinav Ramnarayan in London; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Louise Heavens)