PARIS — Swiss skin care company Galderma’s shares soared Friday, the first day of trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich.
The stock closed the day up 20.75 percent to 64 Swiss francs, or $71.20, from its initial public offering price of 53 Swiss francs a share. Galderma began trading at 61 Swiss francs, an increase of 15.1 percent from that IPO price.
Galderma’s float is expected to be among the largest in Europe this year and comes a day after German prestige fragrance and cosmetics retailer Douglas went public in Frankfurt.
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The implied placement valuation of up to 2.3 billion Swiss francs makes Galderma’s the largest IPO placement volume in Switzerland since 2017.
Buoyant equity markets and mitigating interest rates are helping drive interest in IPOs around the globe. In the beauty space, Spain’s Puig has said it is mulling an IPO as part of strategic options for the future. And in Brazil, Natura & Co. is considering spinning off beleaguered Avon into a separate publicly traded company.
Zug, Switzerland-based Galderma was established in 1981 as a joint venture between L’Oréal and Nestlé. Galderma’s core brand Cetaphil dates back to 1947.
In 2014, Nestlé acquired L’Oréal’s 50 percent stake in Galderma. Five years later, EQT Partners investment group and a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment authority purchased the skin care company, then called Nestlé Skin Health, for an enterprise value of 10.2 billion Swiss francs. Afterward, the group was rebranded as Galderma again.
Galderma is present in more than 90 countries and counts 6,500 employees worldwide. Its brand include Actinica, Benzac, Azzalure, Differin and Dysport.
In 2023, the company generated sales of $4.08 billion, up 8.5 percent on a constant-currency basis year-on-year. For 2024, the group expects its sales to gain 7 percent to 10 percent at constant exchange versus 2023.