LONDON — SAP Chief Executive Christian Klein said investor demand for shares in enterprise software firm Qualtrics is outstripping supply ahead of the company’s stock market debut.
SAP acquired Qualtrics in November 2018 for $8 billion and in July 2020, announced that it intended to take the company public.
“We are looking forward to the IPO, which is, by the way, massively oversubscribed,” Klein said in an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Wednesday.
Qualtrics is aiming to raise as much as $1.46 billion through the IPO, which could take place imminently. In an amended filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, it said it plans to sell 50.4 million shares at $27 to $29 each. The firm previously filed to sell 49.2 million at $22 to $26 each. The listing could see Qualtrics achieve a market capitalization of up to $14.6 billion. SAP plans to use the Qualtrics IPO to help repay $1.76 billion of debt, according to the filing.
“The acquisition is a massive success.,” said Klein, who was appointed sole CEO last April, adding that SAP has doubled Qualtrics’ revenue.
He added: “They have done so well inside the SAP customer base, and now we are opening them up. They can also now penetrate the market outside of our customer base.”
Klein said SAP will remain the majority shareholder in Qualtrics after it goes public and that the company “will benefit fully from the success of Qualtrics after the IPO.”