BJ's Wholesale goes public... again

After filing for an initial public offering in May, late last month BJ's Wholesale Club announced an IPO of 37.5 million shares of common stock at $17 per share, raising $637.5 million. The company now trades under the ticker symbol "BJ" on the New York Stock Exchange.

The stock closed yesterday at $23.75.

BJ's presence on the stock market marks a seven-year absence, when in 2011 Leonard Green & Partners and CVS Capital Partners took the company private via a $2.8 million buyout. At the time, BJ's operated 190 warehouses. It now has 215 stores in 16 states.

Albertsons' IPO plans at a standstill

Albertsons' IPO plans have been halted again, this time due to price deflation that has affected sales and earnings across the supermarket industry. Albertsons (Acme, Albertsons, Safeway, Vons and several others) originally proposed a public offering a year ago, but postponed it when Walmart's announcement about earnings pressure prompted an industry-wide drop in valuations.

Analysts are not optimistic that Albertsons will be able to achieve an IPO at the valuations contemplated last fall, when price deflation wasn't an issue and consumers were not as cautious as they seem to be now.

Save-A-Lot files IPO, to spin off from Supervalu

Supervalu announced earlier this month that its discount grocer Save-A-Lot filed an IPO and plans to spin off into a publicly traded company to be largely controlled by Supervalu shareholders.

According to Supervalu CEO Sam Duncan, after the separation "Supervalu will be able to focus on providing wholesale distribution services to independent retail customers and operating its five regionally based traditional format grocery banners. Save-A-Lot will continue to be a leader in hard discount grocery retailing in the United States."

According to the prospectus, Save-A-Lot would trade on the New York Stock Exchange. The prospectus also said that Save-A-Lot plans to open about 90 stores per year in 2016 and 2017, and to maintain mid-to-high single digit rates of annual new store growth in future years.

According to Save-A-Lot, the limited assortment grocery channel represents approximately 3 percent of the overall U.S. market and is projected for growth of 8 percent over the next five years.

Plans in place again for Albertsons IPO

Albertsons (Acme, Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco et al) filed an amended stock prospectus for an initial public offering late last month in hopes of raising between $1.5 and $2 billion. The company had originally planned to hold the offering in October but called off the IPO due to market volatility.

The prospectus is seeking a sale of 65.3 million shares at a price between $23 and $26 per share, along with an over-allotment of 9.8 million shares. Albertsons says it plans to use the proceeds to pay down debt.

Albertsons is owned by a consortium led by Cerberus Capital Management, and includes real estate companies Kimco Realty, Klaff Realty, Lubert-Adler and Schottenstein Stores. This consortium will indirectly own approximately 83% of Albertsons common stock following the offering.

Albertsons postpones IPO indefinitely

Albertsons, which had been expected to complete its initial public offering last Thursday, announced the day before that the IPO was postponed indefinitely due to recent market volatility. The company had said in a prospectus that it intended to offer 65.3 million shares priced at $23 to $26 per share, with the possibility of selling 9.8 million more shares if demand warranted it.

If all 75 million shares had been sold at the top of the range, the deal would have totaled $1.95 billion.

Albertsons operates about 2,200 stores in 33 states under banners that include Acme, Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and others.

Albertsons set to raise $1.8 billion from IPO

It was reported last week that Albertsons, which operates 2,200 stores in 33 states, including Acme Supermarkets in the Greater Philadelphia Region, expects to raise up to $1.84 billion in its initial public offering. The company has not yet said when the IPO will take place.

Executives plan to change the organizational structure of AB Acquisition LLC and its subsidiaries from an LLC into a corporation known as Albertsons Companies. Once the offering closes, each entity within AB Acquisition will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the new entity.

The company's January acquisition of Safeway made Albertsons the second largest supermarket chain in America, behind Kroger.

Albertsons files for IPO

Earlier this month, Albertsons, the second-largest traditional supermarket operator in the United States (behind Kroger), filed for an initial public offering. The IPO, which comes only a couple years after an investor group led by Cerberus Capital Management purchased the company from Supervalu, is expected to raise about $100 million.

Albertsons said it plans to use the money to pay down debt and fund other corporate initiatives.

Albertsons currently operates over 2,200 grocery stores in 33 states under banners that include Albertsons, Acme, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco and others.

Analyst says Albertsons IPO speculation is premature

The supermarket trade publications have been buzzing with reports about an Albertsons IPO now that the Safeway merger has taken place. However, a Wall Street analyst told Supermarket News last week that the reports are probably premature.

The analyst cited the difference in the two companies' go-to-market strategies, and the fact that Safeway has a loyalty card but Albertsons doesn't.

Despite CNBC stating that "sources with knowledge of the matter" have said Albertsons' holding company has hired bankers in anticipation of an IPO later this year, the analyst believes that "considering an IPO without any idea of how the integration is going or what the business will look like or how well the executives will work together is very premature."