French cosmetics company L'Occitane launches the retail portion of its initial public offering in Hong Kong today and aims to raise about HK$2.45 billion, with the majority of proceeds funding store expansion.
The Luxembourg-incorporated company will offer 364.12 million shares, or a quarter of the company's share capital, priced at between HK$12.88 and HK$15.08 per share, with an over-allotment option to issue a further 54.62 million shares.
The shares will be issued equally by L'Occitane International and its parent, L'Occitane Groupe.
The offering is expected to close on April 29 and the shares are due to start trading on May 7 in board lots of 250 shares, according to the listing document. Investment banks CLSA, HSBC and UBS are underwriters.
Managing director Andre Hoffmann said yesterday via a tele-conference link from New York that the continuing importance of Asia-Pacific to the firm 'is one of the reasons why we have decided to list in Hong Kong'. Chairman and chief executive Reinold Geiger said listing here was 'the most logical thing to do'.
Last year over one-third of L'Occitane's sales came from Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan combined.