PE-backed Petco files for IPO

San Diego-based Petco, which started in 1965 as a mail-order company, operates over 1,400 stores across the United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Petco was taken private in a $1.8 billion leveraged buyout by TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners in 2006.

TPG and Leonard Green first took the company public in 2002 after buying it in 2000. The SEC filing shows that TPG owns 377.65 million shares (46.8 percent of the total) and Leonard Green owns owns 302.26 million shares (37.5 percent). Other notable shareholders include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which owns 100 million shares (11.9 percent), and FS EQuity Partners V, which owns 56.71 million shares (6.7 percent).

Reuters reported earlier this month that Petco had hired Goldman Sachs to lead an IPO or sale that could value the company at between $4 billion to $5 billion, including debt.

Petco’s revenue rose 5.6 percent to about $4 billion for the year ended Jan. 31. Net income fell 11 percent to $75.3 million, Petco said in a regulatory filing. (bit.ly/1hjRVn6)

Petco said it accounted for 16 percent of the U.S. pet specialty chain and independent retail market, based on the number of locations.

The U.S. pet industry is projected to grow by 4.3 percent to $92 billion by 2019, the company said on Monday.

Shares of Blue Buffalo Pet Products Inc rose as much as 37 percent in their debut last month, valuing the maker of Blue Wilderness and other dog and cat foods at $5.38 billion.

Petco, which filed for a nominal fundraising of $100 million, did not reveal on which exchange it plans to list its stock.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith and JP Morgan are among the other underwriters to the IPO.

The amount of money a company says it plans to raise in its first IPO filings is used to calculate registration fees. The final size of the IPO could be different.

(Reporting by Neha Dimri for Reuters and Lawrence Aragon for Buyouts Insider)