Sawt Falasteen - US perfume giant Coty weighs Paris stock listing

"Paris is the historic home of beauty, and the industry still holds a special attraction for investors there," Coty board chairman Peter Harf said in a statement.

Coty has a large stable of fragrances and skin care products that it produces under license for fashion houses like Burberry, Hugo Boss, Chloe, Gucci and Mac Jacobs.

Its consumer beauty brands include CoverGirl, Bourjois, and Max Factor.

The Paris stock exchange is home to three of the world's largest luxury groups, LVMH, Hermes and Kering. It is also home to beauty giant L'Oreal and EssilorLuxottica, which makes designer sunglasses.

Coty's arrival would provide a boost to the Paris exchange, which according to data from Bloomberg saw the capitalisation of its listed firms surpass that of London's stock exchange last year for the first time, thanks in large part to the soaring value of luxury firms.

It would also be something of a return home for the firm, which was founded in 1904 in Paris by French perfume maker Francois Coty. The firm was acquired by the US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer in the 1960s, and since the 1990s has been majority owned by JAB, a holding for Germany's Reimann family.

JAB has taken stakes in a range of popular consumer brands, including the American speciality doughnut chain Krispy Kreme -- which is reportedly set to open its first Paris stores later this year.

In its latest financial year which ended in June 2022, New York-listed Coty posted a net profit of $260 million on revenue of $5.3 billion.

V.Said--SF-PST