Infomaniak just announced it’s heading to the stock market. For a hosting company that spent May 2026 making itself legally impossible to acquire, that headline needs some unpacking.
The Swiss cloud provider announced on July 29 that it has signed a deal to list on the SIX Swiss Exchange, the country’s main stock market, through a reverse takeover of Perrot Duval Holding SA. If the deal goes through, Infomaniak gets a public listing without a traditional IPO. Perrot Duval gets renamed. And Infomaniak’s customers get a host that’s now accountable to public financial reporting.
Here’s what actually happened, why the Foundation twist matters, and what it means if you’re already a customer or thinking about signing up.
What Infomaniak Just Announced
The deal is structured as a reverse takeover. Perrot Duval, a Swiss holding company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange since 1905, will acquire 100% of Infomaniak’s share capital. In return, its shareholders receive newly issued Perrot Duval shares. No cash changes hands. No new shares are sold to the public.
The result: a stock market listing by merging into an already listed company, rather than going through the cost and regulatory burden of a traditional IPO. If the deal is approved, Perrot Duval will be renamed Infomaniak SA. Its existing subsidiary, Füll Process, which operates in decorative cosmetics and process automation, will be sold off to its management team as part of the transaction.
The shareholder vote is scheduled for September 24. Subject to approval from both the shareholders and the SIX Exchange Regulation authority, the merger is expected to complete on or around September 25. The listing of new shares will follow after that, at a date not yet confirmed.
What a Reverse Takeover Actually Is
A traditional IPO involves a company issuing new shares to public investors and listing those shares on a stock exchange for the first time. It’s expensive, heavily regulated, and typically takes months of preparation.
A reverse takeover skips most of that. Instead of creating a new listed company, the private company merges with one that’s already listed. The private company’s shareholders swap their shares for shares in the listed shell. The listed company then takes on the private company’s identity and business. On paper, Perrot Duval is acquiring Infomaniak. In practice, as the company has put it directly, Infomaniak is the one taking the reins.
The net result is the same: Infomaniak becomes a publicly traded company. The route just happens to run through a 121-year-old Swiss holding company with a cosmetics division.
The Foundation Twist
Ten weeks before this announcement, Infomaniak did something that looked like the opposite of going public.
On May 13, 2026, founder Boris Siegenthaler transferred the majority of Infomaniak’s voting rights to a newly created Swiss public-interest foundation, the Infomaniak Foundation. The move was irrevocable, notarised, and unanimous among all 37 shareholders (mostly employees), who agreed to reduce their own voting rights to make it happen. The effect: no sale, takeover, or change of control can now occur without the Foundation’s approval. Infomaniak cannot be acquired by a larger group against its mission.
So why is it now pursuing a listing?
The two moves are not contradictory. The Foundation protects the values. The listing raises the capital needed to act on them. Siegenthaler said it clearly when speaking to Swiss newspaper Le Temps: “This step will give us the means to build a lasting European alternative to the giants of the sector.”
The Foundation holds a Shareholding Charter, signed before a notary, that enshrines nine principles covering digital sovereignty, privacy, environmental responsibility, and local roots. Those principles can only be strengthened, never weakened. Up to 5% of annual profit is directed to public-benefit projects in those areas. A stock market listing adds capital for growth. It does not give investors the power to redirect the company away from those commitments. That power now sits with the Foundation, permanently.
What It Means If You’re a Customer
Three things worth knowing.
Contracts and services are unchanged through the transaction. The company has confirmed that daily operations continue under the same management team: CEO Marc Oehler, CFO Céline Morey, and Siegenthaler remaining as CSO. Pricing and existing agreements are not affected by the deal.
Public reporting raises accountability. Once listed, Infomaniak will be required to publish annual financial reports. For customers, that means the company’s financial health, revenue, and growth trajectory become matters of public record. That’s a meaningful transparency upgrade in an industry where most hosts are privately owned with no obligation to disclose anything.
The Foundation structure means the independence is structural, not a promise. Most hosting companies get acquired eventually. The acquisition guide on this site walks through what happens when that occurs, and it usually means some combination of rising prices, reduced support, and a gradual drift away from whatever made the host worth choosing in the first place. Infomaniak has, as of May 2026, made that outcome legally impossible. The listing does not change that. Any acquirer would need the Foundation’s consent, which requires upholding the nine principles. That’s not a loophole that gets quietly closed in a future board meeting.
Infomaniak by the Numbers
Founded in Geneva in 1994 by Boris Siegenthaler and Fabian Lucchi, Infomaniak is the leading web host in Switzerland by market share. As of 2025:
- Revenue: CHF 54.2 million (approximately $61 million USD), up 50% over three years
- Employees: 340+, based entirely in Switzerland
- Data centres: owned and operated in Geneva and Zurich, no outsourcing or foreign intermediaries
- Energy: 100% certified local renewable electricity, new Geneva data centre designed to warm around 6,000 homes at full capacity (2028)
- PUE: below 1.1 (industry average is typically 1.5 to 1.6)
- Certifications: ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 50001
- R&D: 70% of staff work in research and development
- Notable clients: RTBF (Belgian public broadcaster) and more than 150 radio and TV stations across Europe
All data stays in Switzerland, subject to Swiss law and fully compliant with European GDPR requirements. The company has no external investors prior to this transaction and has grown entirely on its own revenue.
For more on what makes its green credentials credible, the Green Web Foundation page and the renewable energy certificates glossary entry explain how to verify sustainability claims in this industry.
What Happens Next
The immediate calendar:
- September 24: Perrot Duval shareholders vote on the transaction
- On or around September 25: Merger finalised, assuming regulatory and shareholder approval
- After that: Listing of new shares on the SIX Swiss Exchange, date to be confirmed
- Company renamed Infomaniak SA upon completion
Two approvals are still required before any of this is confirmed: the Perrot Duval shareholder vote, and sign-off from SIX Exchange Regulation AG and the Regulatory Board of SIX Swiss Exchange. Neither is guaranteed, though the unanimous agreement from Infomaniak’s own shareholders and the structured nature of the deal make rejection at the Perrot Duval level the main remaining variable.
For existing customers, nothing changes before September at the earliest. For anyone weighing up Infomaniak as a host, the full Infomaniak review covers what the service actually offers, from pricing and performance to support and the kSuite collaboration tools.
The hosting industry has spent 2026 consolidating at pace, with 30 deals in the first half of the year alone. Infomaniak is doing something different: getting access to public capital while making it structurally harder, not easier, for that capital to change what the company is. Whether that model holds up over time is worth watching.
