Beauty company Coty plans IPO
Coty Inc., known for its celebrity fragrances and OPI nail polish, is set to put its best face forward on the stock market. The beauty products maker is planning to raise $700 million in an initial public offering, moving on after dropping a $10.7-billion takeover bid for its much larger rival, Avon Products Inc.
The New York company, which touts fragrances by Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion and Halle Berry, said in a regulatory filing Friday that its stock would be listed under the COTY ticker symbol. The company did not specify yet whether it would be on the Nasdaq Stock Market or the New York Stock Exchange.
IPO listings have increasingly come into focus since Facebook Inc.’s IPO last month. Nasdaq, which is owned by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., came under heavy criticism for its handling of the Facebook IPO when the first day of trading was riddled with computer glitches. But Kraft Foods Inc. spurned the NYSE in favor of Nasdaq this month, saying the move will help cut costs as it prepares to split into two publicly traded companies.
Coty, founded in Paris in 1904, has managed to successfully broaden its business to cover an array of personal health and beauty needs.
Although some consumers may not know the company’s name, they probably have used some of its brands. Rimmel, Sally Hansen and Philosophy are just a few of the well-known products in its arsenal of beauty goods.
The company, which is majority owned by German conglomerate Joh. A. Benckiser, did not give an estimated price range for the stock or disclose how many shares selling stockholders would offer.
Aside from Benckiser, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and private equity firm Rhone each hold a 7.5% stake in Coty.