Private Equity Deal Snapshot

Galderma: From Nestlé carve-out to full sponsor exit

A consortium led by EQT bought Nestlé Skin Health in 2019, renamed it Galderma, listed it in Zurich in 2024 and sold its last shares in March 2026. We trace the full arc of the investment.

Exit completed 13 March 20264 min readPrivate Equity

NestléEQT
The one-page editionDownload the SnapshotPDF · A4 · Mar 2026
  • CHF 10.2bnEntry value, 2019
  • CHF 53IPO price, March 2024
  • +21%First-day move
  • CHF 21bnRealised by EQT
David BaburiHead of Research, Valstron
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Key takeaways

  1. In 2019 a consortium led by EQT and a subsidiary of ADIA acquired Nestlé Skin Health for CHF 10.2 billion and renamed it Galderma.
  2. The March 2024 IPO on SIX priced at CHF 53 a share, the largest IPO placement in Switzerland since 2017. New money was earmarked mainly to repay and refinance debt.
  3. EQT completed its exit on 13 March 2026 with a block trade of about CHF 4.9 billion. It reports total realisations of about CHF 21 billion across its funds and co-investors.

The transaction

SellerNestlé
BuyerEQT-led consortium

Result Galderma

Key terms
Seller (2019)Nestlé
Buyers (2019)EQT-led consortium with an ADIA subsidiary; co-investors incl. GIC and PSP Investments
Entry valueCHF 10.2 billion; closed 2 October 2019
Net sales at entryCHF 2.8 billion (2018)
IPOSIX Swiss Exchange, 22 March 2024
Offer priceCHF 53 per share; first-day close CHF 64
Offer sizec. CHF 2.0 billion; c. CHF 2.3 billion with full over-allotment
Market value at first closec. CHF 15 billion
Final exit13 March 2026; c. 34 million shares, c. CHF 4.9 billion gross
Realised by EQTc. CHF 21 billion, funds and co-investors

Timeline

  1. May 2019Nestlé enters exclusive talks with EQT and ADIA
  2. 2 Oct 2019Acquisition closes; Nestlé Skin Health becomes Galderma
  3. 22 Mar 2024IPO on SIX at CHF 53, first close CHF 64
  4. 13 Mar 2026EQT completes its final sell-down

The rationale

For Nestlé the sale was part of a portfolio clean-up. Reuters reported in 2019 that the unit had been put up for sale the previous September as the group moved to exit underperforming businesses.

For the sponsors it was a classic carve-out thesis: give a dermatology business that sat inside a food group its own management, capital allocation and focus, then return it to the public market as a pure-play dermatology company.

The 2024 IPO was above all a deleveraging event. The offer consisted almost entirely of newly issued shares, about 37.2 million, whose proceeds were earmarked to repay and refinance debt. The owners kept their stakes and sold later, once the shares had a market price.

The assessment

Exit route

The sequence is textbook for a large carve-out: a partial IPO to establish a market price, followed by staged sell-downs once the shares have a trading record. The March 2026 block completed that sequence.

Value

The headline figures should not be compared directly. CHF 10.2 billion in 2019 was an enterprise value that includes debt; CHF 21 billion is what EQT reports having realised across its funds and co-investors. The gap still points to a highly successful investment, but the fund-level return depends on equity invested, which the sources we use do not disclose.

Market reception

A first-day close of CHF 64, about 21% above the offer price, showed strong demand at listing and gave the owners a valuable reference price for later sales.

What to watch

With the sponsor's shares fully placed, the stock now trades on Galderma's own growth and margins rather than on the supply of shares from its former owners.

Value markers (CHF bn)
21.0Realised by EQT15.0Listing 202410.2Entry 2019

Source: Not like for like: entry is 2019 enterprise value, listing is market value at the first close, realised is EQT proceeds for its funds and co-investors. Sources: Galderma, EQT.

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