Levi Strauss plans to raise $587 million in an initial public offering

Levi Strauss on Monday said it plans to raise as much as $587 million in an initial public offering.
The company and its selling stockholders are offering 36.7 million shares priced between $14 and $16 a share.
Proceeds from the listing may be used for future acquisitions, but the company has no immediate plans of any takeover.
The fundraising would give the jeans maker a market value of up to $6.17 billion, according to Reuters.

Iconic jeans brand Levi Strauss on Monday said it plans to raise as much as $587 million by selling 36.7 million shares in an initial public offering.

The company said a total of 36.7 million shares will be sold — it’s offering around 9.5 million shares and its selling stockholders are offering 27.2 million shares. The IPO price is expected to be between $14 and $16 a share, valuing Levi at up to $6.17 billion, according to Reuters.

According to its public filing, the company plans to use the proceeds from the listing for general corporate purposes, including working capital, operating expenses, and capital expenditures. It may also use a portion of the proceeds for acquisitions or other strategic investments, although it currently doesn’t have any plans to do so.

Levi Strauss was founded in 1853 in San Francisco, California as a wholesale dry goods business and invented the blue jean in 1873. The company did go public before, in 1971, but was taken private again in a 1985 leveraged buyout.

Levi Strauss said in its filing that it netted $5.6 billion of revenue in 2018, up 14% versus the same period last year. It generated $285 million of net income last year, which is flat from the prior year.

"Our mission is to be, and be seen as, the world’s best apparel company and one of the best performing companies in any industry," the company said.

"Our business is operated through three geographic regions that comprise our three reporting segments: the Americas, Europe and Asia, which includes the Middle East and Africa. We service consumers through our global infrastructure, developing, sourcing and marketing our products around the world. Our Americas, Europe and Asia segments contributed 55%, 29% and 16%, respectively, of our net revenues in fiscal year 2018."

The lead book-running managers for the IPO include Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Evercore Group are also book-running managers.

Levi Strauss will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "LEVI."

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