Pfizer‘s animal health unit on Monday filed to sell a 20 percent stake to the public in an initial public offering.
The drug giant had announced in June that it would spin off its animal health business in an I.P.O. The standalone company will be called Zoetis. It discovers, makes and markets animal vaccines and other treatments.
Zoetis has about $4.2 billion in annual revenue and accounts for roughly 11 percent of Pfizer's business. Several analysts have valued Zoetis at $15 billion or more.
The filing does not give a price range for the Class A shares that will be sold to the public. The Class B shares, which gives the holder 10 votes per share, will be held by Pfizer.
A spinoff would follow other streamlining moves by Pfizer's chief executive, Ian Read, to focus on its core pharmaceutical businesses. The company sold its infant nutrition unit to Nestle for $11.9 billion in April and its capsule business, Capsugel, to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company last year for $2.4 billion.
Zoetis (pronounced “zoe-EH-tisâ€) sells more than 300 product lines of animal health medicines and vaccines to livestock producers and veterinarians in some 70 countries across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and Latin America. The company said in its filing that emerging markets like India and China accounted for 27 percent of its revenue last year.
Juan Ramón Alaix, who became president of Pfizer's animal health care business in 2006, will remain as chief executive of Zoetis.
JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley will act as the joint book-running managers for the I.P.O., which is expected to take place next year.
