German luxury car-interior designer Novem seeks listing

LONDON: Novem Group, which makes interiors for the likes of Maserati and Porsche, is seeking a listing on the Frankfurt stock exchange, joining a wave of initial public offerings from the car industry in Europe this year.

The company is looking to raise about €50 million (RM247mil) in a private placement of new shares before the listing in July, according to a statement today.

Bregal Investments, the private equity vehicle of Germany's billionaire Brenninkmeijer family, also plans to sell an unspecified amount of existing shares, according to the statement.

Bloomberg News reported in January that Novem was considering an IPO and planned to seek a valuation of about €1.3 billion to €1.5 billion.

Led by former Autoliv Inc. executive Gunter Brenner, Novem makes trim elements used in dashboards and centre consoles in cars with materials such as wood, aluminum, carbon and premium synthetics, rather than the plastic that's widely used. Its clients include Daimler AG, BMW, Audi AG and Volkswagen AG.


For investors, Novem is a play on growth in automakers' luxury offerings.

A shift towards self-driving cars is also expected to boost demand for high-end design, with drivers placing more emphasis on interiors.

The company is tapping public markets amid an IPO boom that has lifted global proceeds to a record high in the first half of the year.

A number of auto firms have joined the rush in Europe, including online car dealer Aramis SAS and its German competitor Auto1 Group SE.

Still, not all offerings in the industry have managed to attract investors. Meinauto, which sells new cars, postponed a planned share sale in May, while automobile-parts distributor Parts Holding Europe in June withdrew a planned listing.

Novem, founded in 1947 in the northern Bavarian town of Vorbach, generated €650 million of revenue in the 2019-2020 financial year.

The company employs almost 6,000 people in 12 locations, according to its website.