By Praveen Paramasivam and Carolina Mandl
BANGALORE/SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Cosmetics maker Coty (NYSE:COTY) Inc filed on Thursday for an initial public offering of its Brazilian unit to help it deleverage and expand it business, Chief Financial Officer Laurent Mercier said in a call with analysts.
"It's definitely a decision with the goal of supporting the growth of the Brazil business and Coty's personal-care brands," he said, adding that this will also help advance Coty's deleveraging agenda.
New York-based Coty's plans to list its Brazilian subsidiary comes as the company decided to divest some assets roughly two year ago to cut debt. Last year, it sold its hair and nail care business to U.S. buyout firm KKR & Co (NYSE:KKR) Inc for $3 billion.
In a filing with the Brazilian securities regulator, Coty said its Brazilian unit also plans to raise fresh proceeds to expand e-commerce and develop new products.
The company has not disclosed yet the offering amount or price per share. One source familiar with the matter said Coty is aiming to raise at least 1 billion reais ($190.68 million) to its coffers in the IPO.
In the first half of the year, Coty posted net revenues of 524.6 million reais and a net income of 57.4 million reais. Stifel said the Brazilian subsidiary has had above corporate average sales growth in recent years.
Investment banks Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Itau BBA and Santander (MC:SAN) will manage the offering.
($1 = 5.2443 reais)