Puig will join Spain's benchmark stock market index on July 22, the stock market's advisory committee announced Tuesday, just over two months after the cosmetics company completed the country's largest initial public offering in nearly a decade.

Puig will replace Melia Hotels in the IBEX 35 index.

Puig's share price has risen more than 3% since its stock market debut, partly because investors bet that the owner of Rabanne and Carolina Herrera perfumes would join indices such as the IBEX, which until now lacked a major luxury presence.

Its shares were trading at 25.35 euros at the time of writing, which values the company at more than 14 billion euros ($15 billion).

Puig went public after buying luxury brands such as Byredo and Charlotte Tilbury makeup brands in recent years to better compete with rivals L'Oréal and Estée Lauder.

Its own brands, such as Rabanne, brought it a net profit of more than 1 billion euros in 2023, with Jean Paul Gaultier being the fastest-growing within the portfolio.

In its first note on Puig, JP Morgan predicted that the company would benefit from strong demand for premium perfumes, as well as makeup and skin care, and said the shares could reach €32 a unit by December 2025.

The Barcelona-based company, in which the Puig family retains a majority stake, posted a 10.1% year-on-year increase in net sales in the first quarter of 2024, outperforming the overall premium beauty market.

Bank of America and JP Morgan expect Puig's sales to continue to grow more than its listed peers. They also see opportunities for mergers and acquisitions, as Puig has said the proceeds from its IPO would help fund investments.

(1 dollar = 0.9240 euros)

(Reporting by Corina Pons and Matteo Allievi; editing by David Latona and Mark Potter; Spanish editing by Mireia Merino)