Linklaters advises banking consortium on the IPO of SMG Swiss Marketplace Group

Linklaters has advised the banking consortium, led by joint global coordinators Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, J.P. Morgan Securities plc and UBS AG, on the initial public offering (IPO) of SMG Swiss Marketplace Group Holding AG, a leading operator of online marketplaces in Switzerland. As of today, SMG shares are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The shares were issued at a price of CHF 46 each, resulting in a market capitalisation of CHF 4.5 billion for the company.

The company was established in 2021 as a joint venture between TX Group AG, Ringier AG, Schweizerische Mobiliar Versicherungsgesellschaft AG, and General Atlantic SC B.V. SMG operates well-known brands under three main business segments, including Homegate, ImmoScout24, and Flatfox (real estate), AutoScout24 (automotive), as well as Ricardo, tutti.ch, and anibis.ch (general marketplaces), complemented by comparison services in the finance and insurance sectors (FinanceScout24). The company operates for the most part exclusively in Switzerland.

Linklaters advised under the lead of Marco G. Carbonare (Partner, Corporate / M&A, Frankfurt) and John Hunt (Senior  Associate, Corporate / M&A, Frankfurt).
Other team members included Kaan Gürer (Counsel, Antitrust & Foreign Investment Control, Düsseldorf), Omer Harel (Counsel, Tax, London), Young Jin Kim (Associate, Tax, New York), and Justin Faulhaber (Associate, Corporate / M&A, Frankfurt).