Coty raises $1bn from initial public offering Coty raised $1bn from an initial public offering as the beauty products group became the second-largest consumer products company to float its shares on the US market during the past decade. The company, which creates fragrance lines for luxury brands such as Calvin Klein and Bottega Veneta as well as A-List celebrities including Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez, sold 57.1m shares at $17.50 a piece, the midpoint of its expected range of $16.50 and $18.50. The New York-based company will not receive any proceeds from the IPO. Joh. A Benckiser, Coty's controlling shareholder and the holding company for Germany's billionaire Reimann family, is using the float to sell down its stake. Minority shareholders Berkshire Partners, the Boston-based private equity group, and private equity firm Rhône Group are also reducing their holdings. For the offering, the company forged a new share class that will give investors just one vote to every 10 held by existing stakeholders. Both share classes will receive an annual cash dividend of 15 cents per share. Shares in Coty are expected to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. The offering comes a year after Coty abandoned its high-profile bid to take over larger rival Avon, after having its $10.7bn offer for the door-to-door cosmetics group rebuffed. The company also shelved preliminary plans for an IPO last October, saying new chief executive Michele Scannavini needed time to settle into his new position after long-time leader Bernd Beetz unexpectedly chose to step down. Although the company has seen rapid growth in recent years, the last few quarters have seen revenues remain flat as Coty struggled to diversify its product portfolio. Attempts by Coty to expand its skincare offerings in order to gain market share from rivals such as Estée Lauder and L'Oréal, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, resulted in $573m worth of writedowns after it overpaid on the acquisitions of skin companies Philosophy and TJoy Holdings in 2010. Coty's public offering is the largest in the personal consumer products industry since the Carolina Group raised $1.1bn from an IPO in January 2002, according to Dealogic. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley are leading the underwriting for the offering.