Beauty group Puig seeks $15 billion valuation in Spanish IPO

MADRID (Reuters) - Perfume and fashion company Puig is seeking a valuation of as much as 13.9 billion euros ($14.8 billion) in Spain's largest initial public offering (IPO) for almost a decade.

The Barcelona-based company said on Thursday it aimed to raise as much as 3 billion euros by selling new and existing shares at between 22 euros and 24.5 euros apiece.

The maker of Rabanne and Carolina Herrera fragrances is offering around 1.25 billion euros of new shares and 1.36 billion euros of existing shares in the IPO, according to a document sent to the Spanish stock market regulator.

Goldman Sachs, as the IPO's stabilisation manager, will also have an option to buy up to 390 million euros.

The shares will be class B, which confers fewer votes than class A shares, but the same economic rights.

The listing on the Madrid stock market is expected to take place on May 3 and would be the biggest in Spain since airport operator AENA's debut in February 2015. The book-building period beginning on Friday is expected to end on April 30.

"Puig's shares will be a good deal for the Spanish stock market which lacked a luxury firm niche until now," said Jose Ramon Iturraiga, portfolio manager at Abante Asesores, a shareholder in Puig's larger peer L'Oreal.

"But the range they are proposing is somewhat high, trying to take advantage of the appetite there is in the market for companies in this sector," Iturraiga added.

Puig is going public after buying brands such as luxury label Byredo and Charlotte Tilbury make-up in recent years to better compete with rivals L'Oreal and Estee Lauder, which have market values of $237 billion and $49 billion respectively.

Puig, which had 4.3 billion euros in sales last year, plans to expand in Asia and win share in a global beauty market forecast to grow by 7% this year.

The IPO will provide more options for its next phase of development, but the Puig family will retain a majority stake and the lion's share of voting rights.

IPO markets have lagged a strong to the year for global equity capital markets, with the prospect of lower interest rates offset by geopolitical worries.

Spanish fashion retailer Tendam told Reuters this week it was planning an IPO by next February.

($1 = 0.9374 euros)

(Reporting by Corina Pons, Jesus Aguado and Emma Pinedo in Madrid and Pablo Mayo in London; editing by Charlie Devereux, Andrei Khalip and Mark Potter)