Oriflame plans stock market listing COSMETICS:
Oriflame, the Swedish cosmetics group with a big presence in the former
Soviet Union, yesterday confirmed plans to seek a stock market listing this
month, in a move that could value it at about three times the level at which
it was taken private five years ago.
Oriflame is the first company to seek a listing on the Swedish stock exchange
for more than 18 months, and its move follows an increase of more than 60 per
cent in the Swedish market since last March.
It hopes to convince investors that its direct-selling concept can produce
good long-term growth in emerging markets where 80 per cent of its sales are
generated.
The former Soviet Union accounted for Euros 300m (Dollars 373m) of last
year's Euros 652m sales and Russia is its single largest market.
There are plans to enter a number of other markets, including China,
Uzbekistan, Israel and the Lebanon in the next two years.
"We believe we can achieve long-term sales growth of 10 to 15 per cent a
year," said Sven Mattsson, chief executive.
The group has 1.4m distributors in 54 countries and says it is the largest or
second-largest direct sales company in more than 30 markets. In the former
Soviet Union, its 646,000 sales representatives helped generate Euros 72m out
of Euros 114m of overall profit before tax and interest last year.
Some 20.8m shares are being offered for sale, including 3.1m new shares, at a
price of between SKr165 and SKr200 each. In the event of strong demand, up to
9m more existing shares could be sold. Proceeds from the issue of the new
shares will be used to pay down debt.
The offer values the company at about Euros 1.2bn, compared with its Pounds
263m (Dollars 484m) value in 1999 when it was taken off the London Stock
Exchange in the aftermath of the Russian crisis.
The main sellers are Industri Kapital, the private equity group, and the
founding Jochnick family. They each hold 41 per cent stakes.
The offer will run from March 10 to March 23, with the listing scheduled for
March 24.
Joint lead co-ordinators are Merrill Lynch and Carnegie.
|
RUSSIA IN FACTS
