Sunrise shares fall on return to Swiss stock market
Company was spun off by Liberty Global
Shares trade nearly 6% lower after early gains reversed
Company now valued at $3.26 billion
Updates with share price fall, trader comment paragraphs 1-4
By John Revill
ZURICH, Nov 15 (Reuters) -Sunrise SUNN.S shares lost ground on the telecoms company's return to the Swiss stock exchange on Friday after some American investors decided to unload shares after its split from Liberty Global.
The stock fell 6% in afternoon trading from its 44.75 Swiss franc opening price, reducing its market capitalisation to 2.9 billion Swiss francs ($3.26 billion) from 3.2 billion francs when trading started.
"Selling pressure is coming the U.S," said one Zurich-based trader. "This is not unusual given that it is a spin-off."
Some Liberty Global investors granted shares are likely to have sold them because they do not want to hold stakes in a company which is focussed solely on the Swiss telecoms market.
Sunrise, which competes with government-controlled Swisscom SCMN.S and privately-held broadband, TV and mobile provider Salt, was listed from 2015 until 2021 when it was bought by Liberty Global for 5 billion francs.
Since then, the company has grown rapidly, increasing its annual revenue to 3 billion francs in 2023, and is the second biggest player in the 8.1 billion franc Swiss telecoms market after Swisscom.
"Sunrise is primed for growth and cash returns, and we expect an attractive progressive dividend policy," Sunrise CEO Andre Krause said in a statement.
The company, which will be included in the Swiss Performance Index from Nov. 22, said it expected to pay a dividend of at least 240 million francs in 2025 for its 2024 financial year.
Nearly 69 million class A shares and 26 million class B shares have been distributed to shareholders according to their stake in Liberty Global.
Only A shares will be traded, although the B shares - which have one tenth of the economic entitlement - can be converted into A stock. Both classes of shares hold one vote.
($1 = 0.8893 Swiss francs)
Reporting by John Revill. Additional reporting by Oliver Hirt and Linda Pasquini. Editing by Friederike Heine, Mark Potter and Elaine Hardcastle
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