Greyhound bus owner Flix edges towards listing

By Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro and Emma-Victoria Farr

(Reuters) - German bus services firm Flix, owner of the Greyhound brand in North America and FlixBus in Europe, has stepped up preparations for a possible stock-market listing, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Flix has invited investment banks to pitch to manage its share sale in recent weeks, said the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. U.S. corporate finance house Evercore is advising Flix on the process, the sources said.

Flix declined to comment. Evercore did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

An Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Flix, which began its bus services in Germany ten years ago, would give hope to capital markets after rising rates and the economic turbulence caused by the Ukraine war have led many companies to defer plans to list.

Flix, set up in 2011 by three entrepreneurs in Munich to try to make bus travel cheap, runs bus and train services across 40 countries. Its revenues have rebounded as the public appetite for travel has surged following the lifting of lockdown restrictions.

Last year, the company posted a 185% jump in revenues to more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.64 billion).

Flix's investors, which include General Atlantic, Permira and BlackRock, supported the firm most recently in June 2021 raising $650 million in equity and debt.

So far this year, only one stock market listing has taken place in Germany, raising $479 million, according to Refinitiv data. In a sign of continued investor caution, the web-hosting company IONOS fell roughly 5% on its stock market debut in February.

Nevertheless, later in February, media reports said Flix was also considering an IPO.

The mood remains wary. Natural soda ash producer WE Soda withdrew plans this week to list in London.

A number of other European firms, including German hydrogen firm Nucera and Romanian energy producer Hidroelectrica, have said they are working on IPOs.

(Reporting by Emma-Victoria Farr and Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro, editing by John O'Donnell and Barbara Lewis)