Germany's Birkenstock set for US listing after $1.5 billion IPO
By Manya Saini and Niket Nishant
(Reuters) -LVMH-backed Birkenstock was set to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday after the German luxury sandal maker notched a valuation of $9.3 billion in its U.S. initial public offering.
The company's IPO raised $1.48 billion after its 32.3 million shares were conservatively priced at $46 apiece, positioning the 250-year-old brand for a smooth market debut.
«It's clear there is some caution among investors about the path ahead for the brand, as the price set of $46 a share was at the middle, not top end of the initial range,» said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Birkenstock is the fourth major company to launch a U.S. IPO in the last four weeks following those of chip designer Arm Holdings (NASDAQ:ARM), grocery delivery app Instacart (NASDAQ:CART) and marketing automation platform Klaviyo (NYSE:KVYO).
Although all of them had an upbeat first day as listed entities, their shares have given up gains since then, muddying the outlook for the IPO market.
«Birkenstock has in its favor, at least relative to Instacart (the one recent sizable IPO in the consumer space), its high level of profitability,» said Javier Gonzalez Lastra, investment partner at Tema ETFs.
«Arguably, this should position Birkenstock more favorably in an environment where real interest rates are high and still rising. The stock, however, will be sensitive to expectations of top-line growth in coming months.»
Birkenstock had disclosed a 21% jump in revenue to 1.12 billion euros ($1.19 billion) for the nine-month period ended June 30. Its net profit for the same period, however, fell 20% to 103.3 million euros.
Founded in 1774 in the German village of
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