Party City Files For Up To $427.7 Mln IPO

(RTTNews) - Party City Holdco, Inc. revealed in a regulatory filing Monday that it plans to raise up to $427.7 million in an initial public offering. The party supply retailer plans to sell 21.88 million shares at an estimated price between $15 and $17 per share.

The company said it intends to list the common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol 'PRTY.'

Party City has also granted the underwriters the option to purchase additional shares of up to 3.28 million of common stock on the same terms and conditions, to cover over-allotments.

The company said it will have a total of 115.97 million shares of common stock outstanding after the offering, which is expected to immediately give the entire company a market valuation of up to about $2 billion.

In a Form S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Elmsford, New York-based Party City had filed the initial registration statement for a $500 million IPO more than a year ago on January 21, 2014.

Founded in 1947, Party City is the leading party goods retailer by revenue in North America and, is said to be the largest vertically integrated supplier of decorated party goods globally by revenue. With about 900 locations, it has the only coast-to-coast network of party superstores in the U.S. and Canada.

The company has grown revenues to $2.27 billion for the year ended December 31, 2014 from $1.60 billion for the year ended December 31, 2010, representing a compounded annual growth rate of 9.2 percent.

Party City is about 70 percent owned by funds affiliated with private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P., about 24 percent owned by funds affiliated with private equity investor Advent International Corp. and about 6 percent owned by other minority investors, including the management.

The underwriters for the offering are Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Barclays, J.P. Morgan, William Blair, Stephens, Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities, and Telsey Advisory Group.

Party City said it intends to use the net proceeds from the IPO to pay a $30.7 million termination fee, and to redeem all or a portion of the senior PIK toggle notes.

Party City was taken private by Berkshire Partners LLC and Weston Presidio in 2005 for a total consideration about $364 million. Later, Thomas H. Lee acquired a majority stake in it in a $2.69 billion deal from Advent International, Berkshire Partners and Weston Presidio in 2012.