The biggest Irish firm you've probably never heard of is joining Dublin's stock exchange
A proposal to buy plastics giant One51 in a massive deal has fallen through.
ONE OF IRELAND’S biggest private companies is about to list on the stock market after a proposal to buy the firm fell through.
One51 announced today that it plans to go ahead with an initial public offering in 2018 “should market and other conditions permit”. It is understood that the firm will likely have a dual listing in Dublin and Canada.
It also announced that an indicative approach from Irish private equity firm Capvest, which would have valued One51 at about €500 million, will not proceed.
“The company announced in October that it had received a conditional approach from CapVest … but that there could be no certainty that an offer would ultimately be forthcoming,” it said in a statement today.
“All discussions in relation to this indicative approach have now been terminated, and One51 confirms that it is no longer in talks in relation to a possible offer.”
Headquartered in Dublin, One51 is one of Ireland’s largest companies. The firm has two main sides to its business: plastics and environmental services, as well as an investment arm.
The firm has over 1,300 employees and recorded sales of just under €350 million in 2016. In the first half of 2017 it reported earnings before deductions of more than €34 million.
One51 will now hold an emergency general meeting in December to seek shareholder approval for the IPO and for it to change its name to IPL Plastics.
The Irish business said that it has received assurances from its majority shareholder, the Canadian investor CDPQ, that it will back the company’s plans at the EGM.
One51 was set up in 2005, one of the spin-off businesses to emerge from the Irish Agricultural Wholesale Society.
The company has attracted interest from some of Ireland’s best-known business figures including billionaire Dermot Desmond, who until recently was a major investor in the firm.
Desmond sold his stake in One51 in a move that paved the way for the business to IPO as he had opposed a flotation.
