By Anna L. Bell
The authors, Dezember and Zimmerman (2012) report that almost six years after being purchased by private groups in 2006, Michaels Stores Inc. has plans to take the retailer public again. Currently owned by the private-equity firms Blackstone Group LP and Bain Capital LLC, Michaels no longer has equity securities listed on the New York Stock Exchange after going private. While private-equity firms have lately outperformed companies that have gone public, Dezember and Zimmerman (2012) say that Michaels plans to jump on the IPO bandwagon in hopes of doubling its owners initial 6 billion dollar investment. After the announced plan the public will soon see the launching of Michaels stock and a listing of the new share price. The announcement of the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a $500 million issue comes after much interest from investors desiring initial public offerings (Dezember and Zimmerman 2012). Dezember and Zimmerman (2012) report that Michaels went from no debt before the buyout, an advance of $4.3 billion in debt after the buyout, and has reduced its debt down to $3.4 billion since. Yet even with the debt the retailer added 160 stores and will come back as a larger and more profitable public enterprise. Although they have yet to determine how many shares will be issued and at what price, the owners plan on using some of the IPO money from the sale of stock in the company to reduce their high debt, foster working capital, and pay general expenses (Dezember and Zimmerman 2012). If the end result is profitable, Michaels could be laying the foundation for other large equity-backed companies to take advantage of public markets.
Reference
Dezember, R., & Zimmerman, A. (2012, March 31). Bye Bye Buyout: Michaels Stores Jumps Onto IPO Bandwagon. Wall Street Journal, Vol. CCLIX. 75, pp. B1,