Warner Chilcott files for $1 billion IPO

By Jennifer Chiou

New York, June 9 - Warner Chilcott Holdings Co., Ltd. filed for an estimated $1 billion initial public offering of class A stock in an S-1 registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. is the bookrunner with Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley as joint leads. Deutsche Bank Securities, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., Wachovia Securities and UBS Investment Bank are co-managers.

The Hamilton, Bermuda-based specialty pharmaceutical company is focused on products in women's health care and dermatology, specifically hormonal contraceptives and hormone therapies.

Warner Chilcott launched Loestrin 24 Fe and Taclonex in April.

Loestrin 24 Fe is an oral contraceptive with a 24-day dosing regimen and the company said it has the goal of growing the market share position it has achieved with its Ovcon and Estrostep products in the hormonal contraceptive market.

Taclonex is a once-a-day topical psoriasis treatment that combines betamethasone dipropionate, a corticosteroid, with calcipotriene, the active ingredient in the company's Dovonex.

IPO proceeds will be used to repay a portion of the company's debt and general corporate purposes.

Warner Chilcott said it had a $0.557 million operating loss on revenues of $0.515 million for 2005, compared with an operating loss of $0.029 million on revenues of $0.137 million for the same period in 2004.

Bain Capital Partners LLC, DLJ Merchant Banking III, Inc., J.P. Morgan Partners, LLC and Thomas H. Lee Partners, LP are currently the largest shareholders.

The company has applied to list its stock on the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "WCRX."

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