Amid intense publicity, in early July, the family-owned French firm bioMérieux SA, launched an initial public offering (IPO) by listing a third of its shares on the French bourse. [See Deal] The offering has been a success, as the price began trading at €30 ($36.86), the high end of the expected range, signaling extensive interest in the world's eighth largest diagnostics company. BioMérieux's valuation is €1.2 billion or slightly more than one times sales.
But in some ways, the offering was much ado about nothing. The company didn't raise any money for itself—although it...
