IPO for Bolloré’s battery business

Groupe Bolloré will float up to 11% of Blue Solutions, its battery business, on the Paris stock exchange,

the

Wall Street Journal

reported.

The company said it would raise as much as €46 million, the article said.

Vincent Bolloré said his family company has spent €1.7 billion on research, factories and acquisitions related to the battery business in the past two decades, the

Journal

reported.

Blue Solutions, which is still in startup mode, posted an operating loss of €18 million last year. The company plans to become profitable before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by the second half of 2014, the

Journal

article said.

Mr. Bolloré’s goal is to prove that an unconventional technology — solid batteries made from layers of thin film — is a legitimate challenger to the dominant types of batteries now used in cellphones or electric cars.

The technology is a descendant of the Bolloré family enterprise’s original business — making ultra-thin paper for Bibles, the

Journal

article said.

Vincent Bolloré, 61, has diversified his family enterprise into African shipping, a French newspaper and advertising company Havas SA. The enterprise had revenue of €10.19 billion last year, the

Journal

report noted. Bolloré is also chairman of Vivendi SA. (Source:

Wall Street Journal,

Oct. 30, 2013.)