Cheddar’s Casual Café reportedly has made a “confidential” filing toward an initial public offering, a new avenue provided in federal legislation enacted in April.
Reuters cited sources who said the Irving, Texas-based casual-dining chain, which is owned by investors that include private equity firms Catterton Partners and Oak Investment Partners, would make the IPO in the second quarter and raise about $100 million. Don Breen, Cheddar’s chief financial officer, said the company has no comment on the report.
According to Nation's Restaurant News’ 2012 Top 200 research from data supplied by Cheddar's officials, the chain had U.S. systemwide sales of $438.3 million for the fiscal year ended in December 2011, an increase of 20.5 percent compared with a year earlier.
Cheddar’s ended 2011 with 106 restaurants, including 61 company-operated and 45 franchised locations, marking a 17.8-percent improvement over 2010's total.
Cheddar’s Restaurant Holding Corp. had revenues of $246.5 million in 2011, up 22.6 percent from the prior year. Those revenues were derived from company store sales, initial franchise fees and franchise sales royalties.
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The Jumpstart Our Business Startup (JOBS) Act, which was signed into law in April, allows companies with less than $1 billion in revenue to file confidential statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission before an IPO. Qualifying companies do not have to disclose details about the company until 21 days before the start of a road show, where it markets itself to potential investors.
Reuters said Cheddar’s has selected Morgan Stanley and Piper Jaffray to lead the IPO.
Alan Liddle contributed to this report.
Contact Ron Ruggless at ronald.ruggless@penton.com.
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