La Française des Jeux lists on Euronext

As the successor company to the French National Lottery created in 1933, FDJ is France’s leading lottery and gaming entity; it operates the second-largest lottery in Europe and the fourth-largest worldwide. The group has two main activities: the lottery (including draws and instant wins), and sports betting (at points of sale and on line). FDJ has 2,500 employees and offers the general public around 85 fun, responsible gaming options. It aims to strengthen its position in France and become an international benchmark in gaming and related services.

La Française des Jeux (ticker code: FDJ) was listed on 21 November 2019 through the admission to trading of the 191,000,000 shares making up its capital, including 81,141,631 new shares issued as part of a Global Offering[1], or 42.5% of total share capital. The over-allotment option represents 11,350,028 shares.

The reference price at market opening was €19.50 per share, setting market capitalisation at €3,724,500,000, and the offering raised a total of €1,600,110,403 million.

FDJ’s IPO was a resounding success among institutional and retail investors alike. Over 500,000 retail investors bought in, the largest number since Aéroports de Paris (ADP) was listed in 2006. The total tranche allocated to individuals was €712,142,613 and that for institutional investors was €887,967,790 (before exercise of the over-allotment option).

This is France’s largest IPO since Natixis in 2006.

Stéphane Pallez, CEO of La Française des Jeux, said: “Today we are happy to celebrate a new milestone in the long, illustrious story of La Française des Jeux: the outstanding success of our IPO with institutional and retail investors, both French and foreign. Individuals in France now own over 20% of our capital, making FDJ an investment of choice for individual shareholders. Thanks to the engagement of our 2,500 employees, many of whom also bought shares in the tranche reserved for them, our Group is set to pursue a strategy of balanced growth that combines strong business performance with responsible gaming and social engagement.”

Martin Vial, Commissioner for State Shareholdings, said: “We are delighted that this IPO has been a popular success, with nearly half a million French people becoming shareholders of La Française des Jeux. This is the French State’s first privatisation in 14 years, and the proceeds will be used to support disruptive innovation and finance the industries of the future.”

At the listing ceremony, Stéphane Boujnah, Euronext CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board, said: “We are proud to welcome La Française des Jeux to Euronext. Its successful IPO shows that individual shareholders are coming back to capital markets, and we look forward to supplying La Française des Jeux with the resources it needs to grow.”