Wound care giant Convatec prices $1.8B IPO

Danish wound care and colostomy supply maker ConvaTec today priced an initial public offering that grossed nearly $1.8 billion on the London Stock Exchange.

ConvaTec, which is owned by private equity firms Avista Capital Partners and Nordic Capital, said it put up 33.8% of its shares in the flotation, which could rise to 38.9% if the underwriters fully exercise an over-allotment option. The nearly 660-million-share offering priced at £2.25 per share, for gross proceeds to ConvaTec of £1.47 billion ($1.79 billion). The IPO puts ConvaTec’s valuation at some £4.39 billion ($5.36 billion).

ConvaTec shares are due to begin conditional trading on the London Stock Exchange today under the “CTEC” symbol, with a full listing slated for Oct. 31.

Avista and Nordic bought the Convatec business from Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2008. The IPO leaves Avista with a 19.5% stake and Nordic with a 45.1% share. If Goldman Sachs exercises its nearly 99-million share over-allotment, Avista would own 18.0% of ConvaTec and Nordic 41.6%.

“We are very pleased by the investor interest in our IPO and we are delighted to welcome our new shareholders. ConvaTec is a world leader in markets which are large and structurally growing, driven by increasing life expectancies and incidences of chronic health conditions. We have implemented a clear growth strategy which is now showing solid results through product innovation, new market entry and investments in direct-to-consumer engagement, in addition to which we are implementing a margin improvement program. We look forward to the benefits which a public listing will create for our company and for our customers, who rely on ConvaTec’s products and services,” CEO Paul Moraviec said in prepared remarks.

In late 2014, reports surfaced that ConvaTec had appointed Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to explore a sale of the company that could be worth as much as $10 billion. Then rumors aired in May that Convatec was exploring an IPO of more than $1 billion, aiming to halve its $3.5 billion debt load.

Convatec named ex-GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) chairman Christopher Gent as its own chairman and added former Nokia Siemens Networks chairman Jesper Ovesen, ex-National Grid CEO Steve Holliday and ex-Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) chairman Rick Anderson to the board; Holliday will serve as deputy chairman, ConvaTec said.

The company posted sales of $1.65 billion last year; EBITDA was $226.2 million on sales of $828.9 million during the 1st half this year, it said today. Company officials have said that the top line is expected to grow about 4% this year and in the “mid-single-digits range’’ next year in constant-currency terms.

Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were joint global coordinators on the deal, with UBS, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Cazenove and Morgan Stanley as joint bookrunners. Peel Hunt and RBC Capital were co-lead managers.

(£1 = $1.22066)

Material from Reuters was used in this report.

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