Hot on the heels of the initial public offering of Myer shares comes the Kathmandu float. It seems that the present owners of the outdoor goods and clothing retailer have judged that now might be a good time to sell down their stake given the recent strength in Australian shares and the high levels of demand being reported for Myer shares.
The Kathmandu prospectus is available from the kathmanduholdings.com website. The retail offer is set to open next Tuesday and close at COB on 6 November. The share offer is expected to raise between $278M and $375M through the sale of between 167 and 197 million shares at a price of $1.65 to $1.90. The proceeds of the offer will be used to pay down debt, fund the cost of the offer with the balance going to the present owners of the company.
Kathmandu was bought from founder Jan Cameron by Goldman Sachs JBWere and Quadrant Private Equity in 2006 and they are now looking at taking some money off the table. It has been reported that they may retain a stake of up to 15% in the listed entity but I suspect that will depend upon demand.
In order to buy shares in the offer you need to purchase through a broker who has received an allocation. There is some stock available to employees with the rest being sold in an institutional offer.
Kathmandu shares will be listed on both the Australian and New Zealand stock exchanges. The retailer operates 84 stores in Australia, New Zealand and the UK and is looking to open another 18 stores.
