Levi Strauss's S-1 filing with the SEC on Wednesday made it clear the iconic American clothing company has finally decided to go public again. With this IPO, the company seeks to raise $100 million, with the intention to trade on the NYSE floor under the ticker LEVI.
The underwriting process for the IPO will be led by JP Morgan (JPM) and Goldman Sachs (GS). Levi Staruss’s net income up to Nov 25, 2018 stood at $285 million - up 1.4% from the previous year. Revenue for the same period was $5.6 billion, up 14.2% on y-o-y basis.
According to the company’s prospectus, it intends to use the IPO proceeds for different corporate purposes like meeting the working capital requirement, supporting operating expenses and capital expenditures or to finance acquisitions or other strategic investments.
The reason to go public after staying private since 1985 could possibly be a response to the changing fashion landscape, which the company has been allegedly struggling to keep up with. The move will now give more access to public investors to Levi’s stocks, at the same time giving the company additional funds to ramp up its business with respect to changing customer demand.