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Published
Jun 29, 2012
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Coty files for IPO of up to $700 million

By
Reuters
Published
Jun 29, 2012

Beauty company Coty Inc on Friday filed with U.S. regulators to raise as much as $700 million in an initial public offering of common stock, more than a month after it pulled a $10.7 billion unsolicited offer to buy Avon Products Inc.


Philosophy, a Coty brand / Photo: Coty


Coty Chairman Peter Harf had told a German paper last month the company was preparing for an IPO.

The company first made a public offer for Avon in April and had raised its offer on May 10, but pulled its bid saying the world's largest cosmetics direct seller had missed its deadline to start talks.

Coty, which owns well-known brands such as Calvin Klein, Davidoff and Sally Hansen, among others, said it holds the second position globally in fragrances.

Its products run the gamut from luxury perfumes for Bottega Veneta to skin care products sold at Wal-Mart Stores Inc .

The company posted net income attributable to it of $32.9 million on revenue of $3.58 billion for the nine months ended March 31.

Coty is majority owned by German conglomerate Joh. A. Benckiser. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway and private equity firm Rhone each own a 7.5 percent stake in the company.

Coty competes against companies such as Estée Lauder Cos Inc , L'Oreal SA and Elizabeth Arden Inc.

The company, founded in Paris in 1904 by Francois Coty, told the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission in a preliminary prospectus that BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley were the lead underwriters of the IPO.

The filing did not reveal how many shares the company planned to sell or their expected price.

The company intends to list its common stock on the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COTY".

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

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