“There is a dissociation between business and the world of politics,” Josep Oliu, president of Banc Sabadell, acknowledged this week regarding the effects that the calling of the Catalan elections may have on the business ecosystem. Oliu knows this first-hand, but not only from his experience at the head of Sabadell, but also as a member of the board of Puig, the Catalan multinational that has just announced its listing on the stock market, in the midst of the electoral pre-campaign. Oliu has been Puig's advisor for more than 20 years and has been in the kitchen of that operation, on everyone's lips for months but which has not materialized until now. In other times, the electoral call would have delayed such an important operation. It's all a symptom of that dissociation. Politics goes at its own pace and companies go at their own pace. In fact, Puig's market launch will most likely take effect at the beginning of May, just a few days before the May 12 vote.
Puig, in any case, has decided to bet on the Spanish stock market, when his advisors had encouraged them to consider New York or Paris, the luxury cities par excellence and where the company has offices. The United States is already the first market for the Catalan company, which would have justified a commitment to Wall Street, but it has opted for Barcelona, Madrid, Bilbao and Valencia, which also sends a clear message. Marc Puig, the executive president, always claims in his public appearances that Puig is a company born in Barcelona and that it maintains its headquarters in the Catalan capital. Everything indicates that the stock exchange headquarters on Passeig de Gràcia will now become the star space for the bell ringing of the IPO.
The family group, created 110 years ago and now with the third generation at the helm, has been preparing for some time for that decisive step that is the jump to parquet. In an interview with this newspaper last October, Marc Puig acknowledged that he saw himself within the framework of the next generational change. “Being subject to market scrutiny shakes companies. It is not the panacea, it is not the entire solution, but it is a good balance between the market, which makes you look short, and the family, which helps you look long,” he argued. He also recalled that the leading companies in the world of premium luxury and beauty, the segment in which Puig operates, such as LVMH, Kering or L'Oréal, are controlled by a family and are listed. The placement percentage in the IPO has not been specified, although the family will retain the majority of the capital in any case.
The IPO a little over a month ago of the Swiss company Galderma, a pharmaceutical company specializing in dermatology, has proven to be a complete success. Its shares have experienced a revaluation of 22%, and this good result may have contributed to reinforcing Puig's commitment to the listing. On the contrary, the German perfumery chain Douglas has failed in its jump to the parquet, although analysts consider that its situation is not comparable to that of Puig, “since it lost money in 2022 and in 2023 they only earned 16.7 million euros compared to the profits of 465 million” of the Catalan group, recalls Javier Cabrera, from XTB.
The Barcelona-based multinational has become a giant in perfumery, beauty and fashion with a global presence and a turnover in the last year that exceeds 4.3 billion euros. Its growth has accelerated in recent years, from sales of 1,933 million in 2018 and 2,029 million in 2019. The company managed to successfully overcome the downturn of the pandemic and is growing in double digits, above the sector as a whole. , thanks to its commitment to its own prestigious brands (it has Carolina Herrera, Paco Rabanne, Jean Paul Gaultier or Nina Ricci, among others) and through acquisitions such as that of the makeup company Charlotte Tilbury in 2020 or the firm of high cosmetics Dr. Barbara Sturm this same year. The stock market jump will provide you with funds to intensify that growth.
On the verge of this operation, the company has remodeled its board of directors and has incorporated as an independent member a renowned director such as María Dolores Dancausa, until recently CEO of Bankinter and now president of the financial entity. Tina Müller, former CEO of Douglas and now chief executive of the organic cosmetics group Weleda, has also entered. With the entry of the two new counselors, the governing body has been reduced from 14 to 13 members and three representatives of the Puig family have left. The president, Marc Puig, and his cousin Manuel Puig Rocha, who holds the vice presidency, currently remain as proprietary directors.
