Shoemaker Cole Haan Files Confidential IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Premium shoe brand Cole Haan, currently owned by private equity, has confidentially filed an initial public offering, the company said.

The timing and size of an offering hasn’t been determined and is expected to start when the SEC completes a review process, Cole Haan said. Bloomberg reported on the confidential filing earlier Monday.

In August, Bloomberg reported that the company, which Apax Partners acquired from Nike Inc. in 2013, would start the process of going public after it boosted revenue 14% to $687 million in the fiscal year that ended June 1. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization jumped 56% to $95.3 million.

“Based on the momentum we have generated in the business, and the opportunities we believe are before Cole Haan, we have determined that now is the time to prepare for an initial public offering of the company’s shares,” Chief Executive Officer Jack Boys said in August.

But Cole Haan will be trying to tap a fickle market, after several recent disappointing IPOs in the consumer space. However, there have been very few shoe brands that attempted to go public in the past several years.

The company can pitch investors on its push outside of dress shoes, and that it sources goods primarily from Vietnam and India, which means it’s largely immune from the U.S. trade war with China. Athletic styles now account for about 19% of Cole Haan footwear sales, up from 1% in 2015, according to Moody’s Investors Service.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matt Townsend in New York at mtownsend9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Lisa Wolfson, Jonathan Roeder

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