(Reuters) – VWR Corp, a provider of laboratory supplies and services, filed with U.S. regulators on Tuesday to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering.
The Radnor, Pennsylvania-based company listed Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan as the lead underwriters to the IPO.
VWR sells laboratory products such as chemicals, reagents, consumables, durable products and scientific instruments to more than 120,000 customers, primarily in North America and Europe.
VWR was sold by German drugmaker Merck KGaA in February 2004 to private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for $1.68 billion. In 2007, private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners acquired VWR.
VWR’s parent Varietal Distribution Holdings LLC is controlled by Madison Dearborn.
VWR, which operates more than 160 facilities in 34 countries, counts Corning Inc, Eppendorf, GE Healthcare, Merck and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc among its suppliers.
Research firm Frost & Sullivan estimates that the global laboratory products market will continue to grow at about 2 percent annually through 2015, VWR said in the filing.
VWR’s revenue rose about 1.4 percent to $4.18 billion in the year ended Dec. 31. Net loss applicable to common stock holders narrowed to $33.8 million in the year from $41.7 million in 2012.
The company said it planned to use the IPO proceeds for repaying debt and for investment purposes.
The company did not say in the filing how many shares it planned to sell or the exchange on which it intended to list.
The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.
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