IPO Report: Bausch Health halts plan to IPO skin-care division, citing ‘challenging market conditions’

United States

Bausch Health Cos. Inc. late Thursday said it has halted plans to proceed with the initial public offering of its skin-care business Solta Medical, citing market turmoil.

Skin-care provider Solta Medical attracted “significant investor interest” during the IPO process, Bausch Health BHC, -7.14% BHC, -7.02% said. The IPO is halted “in light of challenging market conditions and other factors,” the pharma company said.

IPOs have all but dried up in recent weeks, with none pricing this week and one small company pricing its offering last week, according to Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused ETFs and institutional research.

Volatile secondary markets amid high inflation, supply-chain snags and a raging war in Ukraine have kept investors weary. There were just seven IPOs in May that raised an aggregate $ 1.1 billion to mark the slowest month for new deals in more than five years, Renaissance said recently.

Bausch Health announced the plans to turn Solta into a publicly traded business in August, saying then an IPO would “unlock the value of this high-growth business” and give Bausch’s the ownership of a “valuable financial asset.”

Shares of Bausch Health rose 1.5% in the extended session Thursday, after ending the regular trading day down 7%.

“For now, Solta will remain as part of Bausch Health and continue to contribute to the deleveraging of the company’s balance sheet,” Bausch Health said.

The company will “revisit alternative paths for Solta in the future,” it said, without elaborating further.

The company has one IPO under its belt this year. Then-Bausch Health subsidiary Bausch & Lomb Corp. filed for an IPO in January, after Bausch Health said in August 2020 it had planned to spin off the maker of eye-health products. That IPO priced below its expected range in May.

Bausch Health changed its name from Valeant in 2018 following allegations of accounting improprieties and price gouging.