France confirms €1.89bn haul from FDJ privatisation

France’s Agence des participations de l’État (APE) has confirmed that the initial public offering of share in lottery and gaming giant La Française des Jeux (FDJ) has raised €1.89bn for state coffers.

Confirmation of the final sum raised through the share sale was only confirmed after APE completed the full exercise of the over-allotment option, which saw an additional 11,350,028 shares told for total proceeds of €225.9m.

This means that 99,320,000 shares in the business were sold through the IPO, representing 52% of FDJ’s issued share capital, for proceeds of €1.89bn.

Individual investors and members of FDJ’s retail network acquired 40,172,148 shares, raising €712m, with a further 44,621,497 sold to institutional investors for an additional €888m. FDJ employees snapped up 3,176,327 shares, bringing in a further €62m.

Before the over-allotment option, the French state had reduced its original 72% holding to 27.85% of FDJ shares.

This now falls to 21.91% of FDJ’s share capital, and could decline to around 20% should all individual investors hold their shares for 18 months. After this period, these investors will receive one additional share for every 10 acquired.

Shares in La Française des Jeux closed up 4.37% at €23.14 per share in Paris earlier today.