Springer Nature IPO: “We open doors for discoveries”


interview

As of: October 4th, 2024 3:48 p.m

The scientific publisher Springer Nature has made a successful stock market debut. It was the third largest IPO in Germany this year. CFO Alexandra Dambeck speaks of a “great day”.

It was a highlight for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. With a market capitalization of around 4.5 billion euros, today’s IPO of the scientific publisher Springer Nature was the third major IPO in Germany this year. At the beginning of the year, the tank gear manufacturer Renk and the perfumery chain Douglas made it onto the stock market. The issue brought 600 million euros into the publisher’s coffers, 400 million of which went to the financial investor BC Partners, which reduced its stake from 47 to 36 percent.

Germany’s largest publisher from Berlin is active in more than 30 countries and publishes scientific journals and books. For example, the company is behind the world’s best-known scientific journal “Nature” and numerous other titles.

tagesschau.de: Congratulations on the IPO, Ms. Dambeck. The first price is 24 euros, above the issue price of 22.5 euros. How satisfied are you?

Alexandra Dambeck: Thank you. It’s a great day. We just rang the bell. It’s a great day for Springer Nature and I have to say I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved here as a team.

tagesschau.de: An IPO like this is always accompanied by a lot of preparatory work. What does it feel like to stand here now and be able to celebrate the whole thing?

Dambeck: It’s an incredible moment. This is a very intensive time of preparation. A successful IPO is simply a nice recognition of what we have achieved in the last few months and also what the company has achieved, especially in the last few years.

Debt reduction as a reason for an IPO

tagesschau.de: You have a pretty high debt load. A certain part of the capital raised is used to reduce debt. What does this mean for future investments?

Dambeck: With the IPO we have a small part as a capital increase, which we use to reduce our debt levels. But what you have to see clearly is that we have had an incredible success story in reducing our debt levels in recent years. And that’s another post now.

tagesschau.de: Science is playing an increasingly important role in society and the media. We have noticed this since Corona at the latest. How popular is the topic of science in publications. Have you noticed a change in the last few years?

Dambeck: Robustly verified science is of course the focus of a lot of people, and this has of course been noticeable since Corona. The market that we operate in is something where we have really seen continued growth over the last 20 years. You see ever higher spending on research and development. Of course, this also means for us that there will be more scientists in these areas. There are more articles, but of course the interest in them is unbroken and, as they say, is growing.

Magazines in the digital age Challenge?

tagesschau.de: You talk about continuous growth. Nevertheless, scientific journals could be a difficult place to be, especially in the digital age. What challenges do you see in the future?

Dambeck: One must be clear: this robustly verified science that I have mentioned is clearly needed. And even in the digital age, this need for it continues unabated.

tagesschau.de: Now you are not a completely classic company. It’s about science and research. What can shareholders expect who are not primarily interested in profit, but rather want social change?

Dambeck: At the core of everything we do, our mission is to open the doors, so to speak, to discoveries and thus offer faster solutions to the challenges in the world. And that is really anchored in the DNA of every employee. At the same time, we are also particularly interesting for investors, active in a growth market that has proven to be very robust. We are incredibly well positioned and have shown very good financial results over the last few years, exceeding our own expectations and also our competitors.

Dealing with digital transformation

tagesschau.de: How do you deal with digital transformation overall, including artificial intelligence or AR and VR, i.e. glasses that allow you to immerse yourself in a completely different world? Do you also see potential for companies there? Or do you see yourself more in the classic scientific literature area?

Dambeck: I think we should perhaps take away a bit of the dusty idea of ​​the idea of ​​a publishing house. That is not the case with us at all. Artificial intelligence plays a very important role for us, especially in the optimization of our processes and our workflows, of course it is an issue for us, but also in the way we make our information available and how our search engines can be optimized. It’s simply the combination of science and a very important aspect is simply the technology development in our publishing house.

tagesschau.de: The dusty image is a misunderstanding, you say. Where do you see important trends in science and the publishing industry?

Dambeck: We are a scientific publisher that also has a very broad base. If you look at our Nature Journal, you will notice that we publish widely. That is simply our strength and also one of the growth potentials that we simply have, that we have such a broad scientific base.

tagesschau.de: You are a Berlin company, but active in more than 30 countries. In which regions do you see the greatest growth?

Dambeck: We have a very strong position in Europe and also in America. But the growth that has been clearly seen over the last few years is once again coming very strongly from the Asia-Pacific region.

The interview was conducted by Emal Atif, ARD finance editor.

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