BMS rakes in $720M on Mead IPO

Bristol-Myers Squibb apparently lowballed its expectations from the selloff of a stake in its Mead Johnson Nutrition unit. The company raised $720 million--20 percent more than its revised expectation of $600 million--in an offering of 30 million shares. BMS was able to peddle 5 million more shares than it expected, New York Times' DealBook reports, at $24 per, the high end of its price range.

The successful IPO cheered markets, which have seen precious few companies go public of late. It's the first healthcare IPO in the U.S. since 2007.

But as In Vivo notes, Mead Johnson's successful offering doesn't necessarily indicate that the other IPOs on the docket will fare as well. What it does say is that Bristol is one step farther down its focus-the-company road. And because it only sold off 15 percent of Mead Johnson, it still gets the benefit of diversification--and it still can consolidate the unit's sales and earnings, even get its hands on a pro rata share of the unit's cash flow.

- read the DealBook post [1]
- check out the analysis [2] from In Vivo

Related Articles:
BMS lowers IPO target to $600M [3]
NYT article considers Bristol-Myers strategy [4]
Will BMS be the next big takeover target? [5]
Bristol looks to free up $1B in cash [6]