Advent-backed hair care brand Olaplex files for IPO after Sovos

[SAN FRANCISCO] Hair-care products maker Olaplex Holdings filed for an initial public offering (IPO), the second consumer brand backed by private equity firm Advent International to do so within a few hours.

Olaplex in its filing Friday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission listed the size of the offering as US$100 million, a placeholder that will change when terms of the share sale are set.

Earlier Friday, Advent-backed Sovos Brands, the owner of the Italian cuisine brands Rao's and Michael Angelo's, made its IPO plans public.

Advent was targeting a valuation of at least US$1.5 billion for Olaplex, Bloomberg News reported in June. All of the shares in the IPO will be sold by current investors without the company receiving any of the proceeds. Advent will continue to control company after the listing, according to the filing.

Olaplex, based in Santa Barbara, California, said its sales climbed sharply during the first half of 2021 compared with the previous year.

Olaplex swung to a profit of US$95 million on net sales of US$270 million for the first six months of the year, compared with a net loss of US$22 million on about US$100 million in sales during the same period in 2020.

Founded in 2014, the shampoo and conditioner maker was bought by Advent in late 2019, according to a statement at the time that didn't disclose deal terms. The company named JuE Wong as chief executive officer, according to a statement in January 2020. Ms Wong had been CEO of Moroccanoil, the skin and hair-care brand.

Along with Advent, Mousse Partners is listed in the filing as owning more than 5 per cent of Olaplex's shares.

The offering is being led by Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Morgan Stanley and Barclays. Olaplex plans for its shares to trade on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol OLPX.

BLOOMBERG