‘Pets at Home to be among first wave of retail IPOs’
PETS at Home is set to be among a first wave of retail IPOs coming to the market this year, reports said today.
The Financial Times speculated that the Handforth-based company, majority owned by private equity group KKR could file for its IPO in February. The listing, including debt will value the country’s largest pet store chain at £1.5bn.
Poundland, which is also backed by a private equity firm, in this case New York-based Warburg Pincus, is also going to be one of the first to hit the
market, the newspaper believes, and will be valued at between £700m to £800m.
In the North West fast-growth online fashion retailer Boohoo has confirmed it its exploring an IPO this year, while Bolton-based AO – the new name for Appliances Online, the white goods retailer, is also reportedly looking at options.
Nationally other private-equity backed groups seeking to tap investor appetite for consumer stocks, include Huddersfield-based The Card Factory, Game Group and Fat Face, the casual retailer chaired by former M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose that has appointed Citi and Jefferies to advise it on a possible flotation.
The FT said McColl’s, the newsagent and convenience stores operator, could announce an IPO with a possible valuation of £225m as early as next week, while House of Fraser could also opt for a stock market listing if talks with suitor Galeries Lafayette fall apart.
