US Foods files IPOUS Foods files IPO

US Foods Holding Corp. plans to raise $100 million in an initial public offering filed Tuesday, eight months after its failed merger with Sysco Corp.

The Rosemont, Ill.-based broadline supplier, which last year posted $23 billion in revenue, is owned by private-equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Clayton Dubilier & Rice. They acquired US Foods in 2007 from Dutch retailer Royal Ahold for $7.1 billion, and would maintain control of the company after the IPO, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The $100 million IPO target is a placeholder to calculate fees and will likely change as the process continues. The company said it would use the IPO proceeds to repay debt and for other purposes.

Last June, Houston-based Sysco dropped its more than a year and a half effort to buy US Foods after a federal judge ruled against the proposal amid concerns a merger would harm competition.

In its Securities and Exchange Commission filings, US Foods said, “This 18-month period was challenging for our business. Sales growth slowed as many potential new customers were hesitant to switch their business to us during this period of uncertainty.”

The company said sales momentum recovered, especially with independent restaurant customers, toward the end of that period and that has continued.

US Foods said it supplies more than 250,000 customer locations nationwide, ranging from independents to multi-unit companies as well as hospitals, nursing homes, hotels and motels, country clubs, government and military organizations, colleges and universities, and retail locations. It has 61 distribution facilities and a fleet of 6,000 trucks.

The company said in its filings that it is the nation’s second-largest foodservice distributor with a market share of about 9 percent.

US Foods plans to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol USFD.

Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected].
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