LDN - Health and Fitness

Colostomy bag maker ConvaTec seeks $1.8 billion in London IPO

[October 04, 2016] By Dasha Afanasieva and Noor Zainab Hussain

LONDON/BENGALURU (Reuters) - Medical products maker ConvaTec Ltd plans to raise around $1.8 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) of new shares on the London Stock Exchange, it said on Monday, in a test of investor confidence after Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The flotation would be the biggest in Britain so far this year, according to Thomson Reuters Eikon data.

ConvaTec, whose products include wound dressings and colostomy bags, said it expected at least 25 percent of its shares would be freely tradeable following the flotation. It could have a market value of about $7.2 billion.

The company will use proceeds from the listing, which is expected in late October or early November, to pay down debt.

Global equity deals are down 30 percent this year, with Britain's surprise vote on June 23 to leave the EU adding to an uncertain global economic outlook..

However, some companies are pressing ahead with UK listings.

Spain's Telefonica is looking to list about 30 percent of its British mobile unit, O2, sources close to the matter have told Reuters, while British fitness club chain Pure Gym Group, waste-management firm Biffa and auto parts maker TI Fluid Systems are all working on London listings.

ConvaTec Chief Executive Paul Moraviec said the company had been preparing the IPO for the best part of a year and that it had not been delayed by the "Brexit" vote.

"It's a very resilient business ... (the IPO) is taking place as per our plans," he said.

ConvaTec, which was sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb to private equity firms for $4.1 billion in 2008, did not say how many shares it would sell, nor the expected price range. http://reut.rs/2cLERc8

Finance chief Nigel Clerkin said the IPO prospectus would be released in two or three weeks.

ConvaTec added the offering could also allow its owners Nordic Capital, Avista Capital Partners and members of the management team to sell part of their stakes in the company.

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Christopher Gent, former CEO of mobile phone group Vodafone and former chairman of drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, has been lined up to be non-executive chairman of the company.

ConvaTec, which has more than 9,000 employees and conducts business in more than 100 countries, made $828.9 million of revenue in the six months ended June 30, and adjusted core earnings (EBITDA) of $226.2 million.

It said banks had committed to new debt financing of about $1.8 billion and a $200 million revolving credit facility.

BofA Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and UBS Investment Bank are joint bookrunners and co-ordinators for the offering.

($1 = 0.8906 euros)

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and Dasha Afanasieva in London; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier and Mark Potter)

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