World’s largest airline caterer Gategroup, co-owned by Temasek, said to be prepping for IPO

[ZURICH] Gategroup, the world’s biggest in-flight caterer, is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as the second half of next year, people familiar with the matter said.

The company has held talks with potential advisers as it considers a listing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is not public.

The venue has not yet been decided, but Zurich is a likely contender, they added.

Gategroup, the former airline catering business of Swiss Air, is co-owned by Singapore’s Temasek and Hong Kong-based private equity firm RRJ Capital.

The firm first listed on the Swiss stock exchange in 2009, before it delisted when it was acquired by HNA Group in 2017.

A final decision has not yet been made and the timing could still change, the people added. Representatives for Gategroup, Temasek and RRJ declined to comment.

A Gategroup IPO would be a second run at a return to public markets, after an attempt in 2018 was abandoned due to weak investor demand. Gategroup was looking to raise as much as 1.1 billion Swiss francs (S$1.8 billion) at the time.

RRJ Capital bought the company in 2019, valuing the firm at about US$2.8 billion. A year later, the Swiss airline catering company was tipped into a crisis by the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequently underwent a restructuring.

It is the world’s largest provider of airline catering services in terms of revenue, according to its 2024 annual report. 

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Zurich has held just two IPOs so far this year, with the largest being that of SMG Swiss Marketplace Group. The stock has traded below its offer price for most of the time since it listed in September. BLOOMBERG