© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A pair of shoes in a window display at a Birkenstock footwear store in Berlin, Germany, January 21, 2021. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch/File Photo
By Anirban Sen and Echo Wang
NEW YORK (Reuters) – German premium footwear maker Birkenstock Holding on Tuesday afternoon priced its U.S. initial public offering (IPO) at $46 a share, in the middle of its stated price range, people familiar said. with the matter.
The IPO raised about $1.48 billion based on 32.3 million shares sold and values the company at about $9.3 billion on a fully diluted basis.
Birkenstock had enough demand to price the offering at the top of the indicated range, but the company and its underwriters chose to be conservative given the volatility of the market, the sources said. The price of Birkenstock was published on Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal.
The sources requested anonymity ahead of an official announcement. Birkenstock declined to comment.
Birkenstock is the fourth major company to launch an initial public offering in the United States in the last four weeks, following those of the chip designer. Arm Holdings (NASDAQ , grocery delivery app Instacart (NASDAQ and marketing automation platform klaviyo (NYSE:).
The slew of recent listings briefly raised hopes of a broad recovery in equity capital markets after a nearly 18-month dry spell. However, all three newly listed companies gave up most of their share price gains in the days following their IPOs, raising concerns about the near-term prospects for the new stock market launches.
While Arm and Klaviyo shares are still trading above their IPO price, Instacart shares are now worth less than their IPO value.
Birkenstock was founded in 1774 in the German town of Langen-Bergheim by Johannes Birkenstock and his younger brother Johann Adam Birkenstock, both shoemakers. The Birkenstock family ran the business for six generations after its founding.
The brand has sought to position itself as a fashion item worn by models and celebrities. Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, wore a pair of pink Birkenstocks in the final scene of the film released this summer.
L Catterton, the private equity group backed by French billionaire Bernard Arnault and luxury goods empire Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, acquired a majority stake in Birkenstock in 2021.
Following the IPO, L Catterton will have an 82.8% stake in Birkenstock and will control the majority of the combined voting power of its outstanding shares.
Birkenstock shares will begin trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BIRK.”
Goldman Sachs & Co (NYSE ), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE and Morgan Stanley are the lead underwriters of the IPO.