UPDATE 2-Skin care company Galderma announces price range for $2.6 bln flotation
(Recasts, adding details of market response in paragraph 3)
By John Revill
ZURICH, March 13 (Reuters) - Skincare company Galderma was on course to raise 2.3 billion ($2.6 billion) Swiss francs from its upcoming initial public (IPO) offering after a positive response from potential investors.
The company, whose products includes Cetaphil, a product for damaged and sensitive skin, as well as fillers and skin creams, early on Wednesday announced a price range of 49 to 53 Swiss francs for its flotation - likely to be one of the biggest in Europe this year.
The offering has had a positive response, with one of the bookrunners saying it been covered across the price range.
The offering consists of up to 40.5 million new shares and 277,000 existing shares, the company said. The offer period will run from Wednesday and is anticipated to end on March 20, 2024.
There is also over-allotment option of up to 6.1 million existing shares, the Swiss company said, which if fully exercised will lead to an offer size of 2.3 billion Swiss francs.
The Swiss company originally announced its initial public offering last week and said proceeds will be used to pay down debt.
Chief Executive Flemming Ornskov said last week there had been significant interest in the flotation of the company, the main owners of which include Swedish private equity company EQT , Singapore's GIC and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA).
All three are expected to remain invested in the company, which is likely to have an enterprise value - equity plus debt - of around $17 billion, as previously reported.
A final offer price will be published on March 21, Galderma said.
The company said it expected to complete its listing and start trading in Switzerland on Friday, March 22. It will be included on the Swiss Performance Index from Monday, March 25, its second trading day. ($1 = 0.8776 Swiss francs) (Reporting by John Revill; editing by Bartosz Dabrowski and Sharon Singleton)
