Kenvue, the consumer health products unit spun out of J&J, raised $3.8 billion by offering 172.8 million shares at $22, within the range of $20 to $23.
The company had originally planned to raise $3.25 billion by offering 151.2 million shares and list on Friday, but sold 14% more shares than anticipated and accelerated its pricing by a day. Parent Johnson & Johnson will receive all proceeds from the offering. At pricing, Kenvue commands a fully diluted market value of more than $40 billion. Starting in the 3Q23, the company expects to pay quarterly cash dividends of approximately $0.20 per share.
As expected, Kenvue is the largest US IPO since Rivian (RIVN), which raised $11.9 billion in November 2021. It is also the first major IPO since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March. Kenvue more than doubles the year's total IPO proceeds to date, from $2.4 billion to $6.2 billion, and with Acelyrin's (SLRN; $450mm) upsized listing slated for Friday, 2023 is all but guaranteed to surpass last year's total for IPO proceeds ($7.7 billion).
Kenvue states that it is the world's largest pure-play consumer health company by revenue ($15 billion), operating across three segments: self care, skin health and beauty, and essential health. Its differentiated portfolio of well-known brands includes Tylenol, Band-Aid, Neutrogena, Aveeno, Nicorette, Zyrtec, and Listerine, among others. Ten of its brands had over $400 million in net sales in 2021, and the company currently holds seven #1 brand positions across major categories globally, in addition to many #1 brand positions locally. Kenvue has a global footprint, and approximately half of 2022 net sales were generated outside North America.
Kenvue plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol KVUE. Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, Citi, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, HSBC, RBC Capital Markets, and UBS Investment Bank acted as joint bookrunners on the deal.
