Coty Inc., the US beauty and fragrance company, is moving forward with a proposed Paris listing that could take place as soon as the coming weeks, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The company has brought on BNP Paribas SA and Citigroup Inc. to work on the deal, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. It’s considering raising fresh capital from the listing, according to some of the people.
New York-based Coty aims to formally announce details of the plans as soon as the next few days, and a listing could follow shortly afterward, the people said. Shares of Coty were up 2.4% at the close Thursday in New York, giving the company a market value of about $10.5 billion.
Coty was founded in 1904 in Paris. The company said in May it was considering a second listing in the French capital, “the historic home of beauty,” to reach a fresh pool of shareholders and strengthen its presence in the region.
The world’s biggest luxury goods companies are traded in Paris including LVMH, L’Oreal SA and Hermes. That creates a center of gravity bringing together the financial analysts who follow the sector as well as investors who understand the industry and its cycles.
Deliberations are ongoing, and details of Coty’s planned offering could change depending on market conditions, the people said. Representatives for Coty, BNP and Citigroup declined to comment.
Coty on Wednesday raised its sales outlook for the current fiscal year, citing continued robust demand for higher-end fragrances like the recently launched “Burberry Goddess.” The maker of Gucci perfumes now sees like-for-like sales growth of 8% to 10% in the fiscal year that started in July.
That’s up from the 6% to 8% sales-growth forecast the company gave in August. Sales are expected to accelerate at a faster pace in the first half of the fiscal year, Coty said in Wednesday’s statement.
--With assistance from Caroline Connan, Jeannette Neumann, Vinicy Chan, Crystal Tse and Alan Katz.
(Updates with context on Paris market in fifth paragraph)
Author: Jan-Henrik Förster, Ryan Gould and Swetha Gopinath
