Are you looking to invest in a home appliance maker that largely sells via late-night infomercials?
Order now and you can get 20 shares of EZ-Store Rotisserie and Veg-O-Matic retailer Ronco for just $120, according to the company’s website. The Austin, Texas-based company, founded by Ron Popeil, wants to raise some $30 million from investors through a mini-IPO by selling five million shares for $6, according to securities filings. That gives the company a valuation of more than $115 million.
But in the typical fashion of TV marketing, Ronco is sweetening the deal for those who buy its stock: Investors also get a 10% off coupon for Ronco.com, and a 20% discount if they buy more than $1,000 worth of Ronco shares. Buy more than $5,000 in stock, and the company will throw in a free Ronco Rotisserie.
The perks don’t stop there. If investors purchase more than $10,000 in Ronco stock, they will receive a free Ronco Ready Grill on top of all the other swag.
Though unusual, Ronco’s IPO is perhaps a fitting way for a company known for its infomercials to sell stock to the public. Instead of selling shares through a Wall Street firm and making them available on a stock exchange, Ronco is going directly to consumers. Ronco may still go the conventional route in the future: It plans to apply for a listing, to trade under the ticker symbol “RNCO,” on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq, though it’s unclear if it will be approved, Ronco said in its IPO filing.
Ronco had sales of $9 million in 2015, and about $3.6 million in the first half of 2016, according to the filing.
