Employing more than half a million staff and as such representing one of the largest private sector employers globally, Denmark-based cleaning, security and catering group ISS is said to be considering the launch of one of the most significant initial public offerings in Europe this year.

Valuing the company at €5 – €6 billion and reporting strong first half 2010 results, the Danish enterprise said that it had appointed Rothschild, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to carry out a strategic review that could potentially result in a sale by Goldman and EQT, the company owners and the buy-out of an arm of neighbouring Sweden’s Wallenberg family.

Operating for over a century, ISS recently announced that it had seen a 10 per cent increase in its operating profits during the first six months of the year to DKr 1.88 billion with revenue up 6 per cent to DKr 36.2 billion, the latter almost ten times the amount that Goldman and EQT paid for the company five years ago.

ISS is said to be one of the world’s largest outsourcing companies, delivering a broad range of services across the globe, from receptionists and security guards to gardeners, catering staff and cleaners.

Having just this month acquired a 49 per cent stake in Indian security services provider, SDB Cisco, ISS said it had 520,000 employees spread across more than 50 countries. The company has performed and is still performing particularly well in emerging markets, showing a 23 per cent revenue increase in Asia and a 45 per cent rise in the Latin American region.

Posted by Phil on the 31st August 2010