Italy's Intercos IPO not fully covered, pricing seen at 3.5 euros

MILAN, Italy - Italian cosmetics company Intercos had not fully covered its public share offering hours before the deal was due to close on Thursday, a communication sent to investors by one of the banks collecting orders showed.

The document, seen by Reuters, said that the Intercos initial public offering (IPO) was expected to be priced at the lowest end of the 3.5-4.5 euro price range and was "more than three quarters done".

The book is due to close at 1330 GMT (0930 EDT).

The amount raised from IPOs in Europe quadrupled year on year in the first nine months of this year to a total of $55.5 billion, but enthusiasm has cooled in recent weeks because of choppy market conditions.

French energy services group Spie dropped its planned IPO on the Euronext Paris market on Thursday, citing volatile markets. This comes after Italian Internet company Italiaonline pulled its own planned listing on the Milan bourse on Tuesday for similar reasons.

Sources had told Reuters on Wednesday that the Intercos listing was on a knife edge.

'BUYER'S MARKET'

"This is a buyer's market, not a seller's. Why should I buy a stock with little visibility when there are lost of stocks out there with proven records," said Roberto Lotici, fund manager at Ifigest.

The communication to investors seen by Reuters said the Intercos offering was expected to be priced at 3.5 euros. That would value the company at about 384 million euros.

"Intercos is a group with very good fundamentals but the IPO price is not the right one," Fidentiis analyst Alberto Checchinato said.

Intercos is aiming to list up to 44.18 percent of its capital. Of the 48.42 million shares it plans to sell in the IPO, about 62 percent is currently owned by founder Dario Gianandrea Ferrari. The rest would be newly issued.

“Right now the market is very volatile. And it is not positive to have so many IPOs all at once because you can't look at all of them," another fund manager said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The interest of foreign investors has been fading a little."