OVHcloud Is Valued At $4.7 Billion, Says Wall Street Journal

While France-headquartered OVHcloud is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) this year, Wall Street Journal has published an article yesterday which mentions an IPO valuation of $4.7 billion. The family-owned business re-engaged in an IPO on Euronext in Paris last June but did not offer a timeframe or fundraising objective.

The $4.7 billion valuation follows a deal in which OVHcloud intends to generate 400 million euros ($469 million) by issuing additional shares in its planned IPO in Paris.

The IPO is aimed at accelerating OVHcloud’s global expansion, allowing it to maintain its leading position in Europe while also growing in North America and Asia.

French politicians have supported OVHcloud in their effort to position it as a viable competitor to the well-known U.S. cloud hyperscalers.

OVHcloud had revenues of €632 million in 2020 and EBITDA of €255 million. It was founded in 1999 by Octave Klaba and is currently managed by CEO Michel Paulin.

It is expected that the Klaba family keeps ownership of a significant majority of OVHcloud’s shares after the IPO. In fact, a majority interest in OVHcloud will be retained by the Klaba family following the proposed IPO. Headquartered in Roubaix, France, OVHcloud operates 30 data centers while employing 2,450 people.

Developing and Producing its Own Servers

To preserve total control over the value chain while providing ‘market-leading’ performance, price certainty, full flexibility, and scalability, OVHcloud has always used a vertically integrated strategy. Because it started off by developing and producing its own servers, OVHcloud sees itself as a sustainable cloud pioneer.

It is OVHcloud’s goal as a cloud hosting provider to develop new products that will allow it to better serve enterprise and international clients, as well as to deliver solutions to satisfy the growing need for hybrid cloud and multi-cloud settings. OVHcloud claims to be well-positioned to address the rising need for secure and sovereign cloud solutions from commercial and public organizations with its open-source, reversible, and interoperable offering.