German beauty retailer Douglas has confirmed plans for an IPO later this year.
Rumours of a potential stock market listing have been circulating since earlier this month, when it was speculated that in the last week of May an intention to float would be issued by Douglas.
Now, that intention has been made clear, with the retailer stating the IPO will consist of a sale of existing shares and a capital increase of around €70m or $77m. Douglas has been absent from the stock market for two years, after it was delisted following its acquisition by US private equity group Advent. The Kreke family will retain a controlling stake in the company after the IPO.
Commenting on the IPO plan, Daniel Latev, Research Manager at Euromonitor International, said: “With the growth of the consumer confidence in most European markets retail environment has improved considerably in the past few years. As such now is a good opportunity for retailers to go public and tap into extra funds to finance expansion plans. There has been a wave of retail retaliated IPOs since last year as the current environment is very favourable.
“Douglas is the biggest beauty specialist in Europe (Western and Eastern Combined) and has presence in most European markets. I think this deal will provide opportunity for the retailer to expand even further or even outside Europe. Critically, the retail landscape for store based retailing is changing rapidly. Even beauty specialists now need to consider the impact of the internet which is changing how consumers shop so we can anticipate that Douglas will be looking to invest more in this area as well.”
JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank will be handling the IPO.