Exclusive Networks starts life as a public company

Exclusive Networks has successfully completed its IPO and begun life as a listed company on the Euronext in Paris, with its CEO vowing to continue the strategy that got the business to this point.

Exclusive, under the ticker symbol EXN, saw strong demand for shares, with the company enjoying an offering that meant its market capitalisation valuation was in the range of €1.8bn.

The distributor raised about €366m through the listing, which could reach €421m if over-allotment options are exercised.

The listing was first revealed at the start of the month and the business has been busy courting investors and outlining why it would be a solid investment. The channel player has talked about its strategy of investing in services, extending geographically and using acquisition to add more depth to the business.

Jesper Trolle, CEO of Exclusive Networks, rang the bell on Euronext this morning and was keen to thank staff, vendors and partners for helping the business reach this milestone.

“Financially, it’s a great way for us to keep on building on what we’ve done,” he said. “But it’s even more about celebrating our employees around the world, the 2,500 people that we have around the world are really the ones that made this moment happen.

“There has been a lot of interest from the market, I would say, we got some good investors. It’s also to give European investors an opportunity to invest in cyber security, which obviously is an area that is getting growing attention.”

Although the IPO will provide the business with funds to support future growth, Trolle said the listing had not changed the firm’s culture or direction.

“From a business perspective, it’s really business as usual,” he said. “But obviously, after this event, that allows us to further accelerate the implementation of our strategy, which obviously is still to continue to drive geographical expansion into markets where we feel we should be and vendors and partners would like us to go. It’s also making sure that we continue to evolve ourselves and continue to add new types of services and continue to align the business to where the market is headed.”

Trolle added that one of the other benefits the business expected to come from going public was the chance to create more opportunities for staff and to attract talent.

“Given we’re recognising our people today, it’s also about the opportunity to continue to invest and develop our people and as we grow, they grow and as we grow as a company, there are opportunities for them to do more and different things, which is important,” he said. “There is a lot of focus on talent these days and this allows us to keep building on our talent, which is a great place to be.”

The other benefit of going public is that proof points become more transparent and the days of sharing selected information to illustrate growth come to an end, he added.

“For us, going into the public market is an opportunity to sort of step into the light a little bit and disclose a bit more to the world about what are we doing, what is the role we’re playing and what value are we generating.”