Petco this afternoon filed for an initial public offering, which would be the pet supply retailer’s third IPO in the past 11 years.
The San Diego-based company said that it plans to raise $100 million, although that almost certainly is a placeholder figure that will rise in subsequent filings. Petco did not indicate on which stock exchange it plans to list, nor any underwriters (although earlier reports suggested that Goldman Sachs would be involved).
Petco reports $75 million of net income on nearly $4 billion in revenue for the fiscal year ending January 31, compared to $85 million in net income on $3.79 billion for the year-earlier period. It also had $191 million of cash and $2.27 billion of debt on its balance sheet.
The company is currently owned by private equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners, which paid $1.8 billion to take Petco private in 2006.
Larger rival PetsSmart was taken private earlier this year by private equity firms for around $8.9 billion. Premium pet food maker Blue Buffalo Pet Products (BUFF) raised $677 million in its IPO last month.