Latham & Watkins has advised low-cost Hungarian airline Wizz Air on its London initial public offering (IPO) just eight months after a failed attempt to list.

The airline floated 72% of the company on the London Stock Exchange on 25 February from which it raised £103m, while selling shareholders gained £154m. The deal gave the company a listed market value of £601m.

Latham's London team was led by corporate partner Claire Keast-Butler with corporate partner Olof Clausson advising on US securities law and antitrust and competition partners John Kallaugher and Luca Crocco advising on regulatory matters.

Davis Polk & Wardwell advised the banks underwriting the deal, which included JP Morgan, Citi, Barclays and Nomura.

London corporate partners Simon Witty and John Banes led on the deal alongside London tax partner Jonathan Cooklin.

Wizz Air, which mainly serves routes in and to central and eastern Europe, had pulled plans for an IPO last June, citing market volatility. Latham has worked with Wizz Air for over ten years.

The IPO is one of the biggest to date this year. The European IPO market has gathered pace after entering a lull in the fourth quarter of last year.

In January, Dutch firm De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek and Davis Polk won roles advising Dutch private equity group Hal Holding on its initial public offering of its optical retailer business GrandVision, owner of Vision Express, which valued the business at €5bn (£3.6bn).

London in particular is gearing up for a flurry of pre-election IPOs ahead of the UK general election.

Earlier this month, UK furniture retailer DFS said it planned to lists its shares in London and that it hopes to raise £105m. 

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