Telecoms billionaire Drahi mulling Sotheby's IPO - report

Patrick Drahi is mulling a possible initial public offering of Sotheby’s, it was reported on Wednesday, just two years after the French telecoms entrepreneur bought the auction house.

According to Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman has held preliminary discussions with potential advisors about a US listing. The business - which was founded in 1744 in London - would likely float next year should the IPO go ahead, Bloomberg said.

Neither Sotheby’s nor Drahi have yet commented on the report.

Drahi took Sotheby’s private in 2019 in a deal worth $3.7bn including debt.

The auction house, which competes with Group Artemis-owned Christie’s, has enjoyed a strong year, raising $1.3bn in marquee sales in November alone, Bloomberg noted. It has also been expanding beyond its traditional sources of revenue, from non-fungible tokens to brokering the $1.8m sale of a part of Nike Air Yeezy 1 trainers designed and worn by the rapper Kanye West.

According to the auctioneer, its annual worldwide sales turnover is currently in excess of $4bn.

Industry data published in July showed that auction sales had surged 230% in the first half of 2021, as the sector swiftly recovered from the impact of Covid-19. Specialist research firm Pi-eX found that sales at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips, the three largest international houses, totalled $5.8bn as at end of June.

Bloomberg's report comes a day after Drahi, the founder and controlling shareholder of European telecoms group Altice, upped his stake in BT Group to 18%.