Michaels Stores, the largest arts and crafts retailer in North America, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $500 million in an initial public offering. Michaels was taken private by Bain and Blackstone in a $6 billion buyout in 2006. It was one of several retail LBOs during a 2005-2007 buyout boom that included the acquisitions of Toys R Us and Restoration Hardware, which have already filed for IPOs, and Neiman Marcus and Petco, which are expected to do so in the near future.
Michaels operates 1,196 stores and booked $4.2 billion in sales in 2011, a 4% increase. Net income rose 71% to $176 million. As of January 28, the company had $3.5 billion in debt, which will be paid down in part through the IPO proceeds.
The Irving, TX-based company, which was founded in 1983, plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol MIK. J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo are the joint bookrunners on the deal.
