Claire's Inc. filed for an initial public offering, and allotted it a $100 million placeholder, after narrowly missing going under during the recession.

The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based women's accessories retailer said in its prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that proceeds from the offering would be used to pay down debt.

Claire's is owned by New York-based private equity firm Apollo Management LP, which acquired it in March 2007 for $3.1 billion. The firm sunk in $597 million of its own equity to help finance the deal, in addition to $283 million in excess cash on Claire's balance sheet, about $935 million in junior debt capital, plus new bank facilities comprising 44% of the transaction value, according to Moody's Investors Service. The deal value Moody's assigned the transaction was $3.3 billion.

By 2009, as a result of the financial crisis, Claire's found itself edging near bankruptcy, with Ebitda dropping to $213.3 million in fiscal 2008 from $300.2 million in fiscal 2007, at the same time as it was carrying long-term debt of $2.37 billion as of the end of January 2009.

The company did manage to reclaim some ground as it finished out its 2009 fiscal year, which ended Jan. 30, with adjusted Ebitda rising to $234 million, still below the $332 million in adjusted Ebitda it generated prior to its leveraged buyout.

Still, Claire's was in such dire need of cash it sold its Hoffman Estates headquarters and North American distribution center to private equity firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. LP for $18.1 million in a sale-leaseback in April 2010.

Over the past two years the retailer has been successful in extending the maturity dates for its debt, with the nearest material debt maturity occurring on June 15, 2015. It received an upgrade from Moody's to Caa1 from Caa2 in September 2012.

According to its IPO prospectus, Claire's now has nearly $2.33 billion in long-term debt as of Feb. 2, not much lower than the $2.35 billion it had as of Jan. 28, 2012, or the $2.37 billion as of January 2009. Meanwhile, cash and cash equivalents are nearly $170 million, it said in the filing.

Long-term debt of $2.33 billion as a ratio to adjusted Ebitda of $308 million is nearly 7.6 times, well above the 4 times to 5 times companies prefer to have when they go public.

Adjusted Ebitda in fiscal 2012 ended Feb. 2, 2013, rose to about $308 million, compared to nearly $275 million in fiscal 2011 and nearly $264 million in fiscal 2010.

Sales over the past four fiscal years also incrementally increased, with the company ringing up nearly $1.56 billion in revenue in fiscal 2012, nearly $1.5 billion in fiscal 2011, about $1.43 billion in fiscal 2010, and roughly $1.34 billion in fiscal 2009.

That compares to the 6.5% drop Claire's experienced in fiscal 2008 when sales were $1.4 billion, down from $1.5 billion in fiscal 2007.

The accessories retailer operates 2,705 stores in 41 countries, including China, Europe and North America, it said, and has 392 franchised stores in other geographies. Same-store sales growth in fiscal 2012 was 1.8%.

Claire's also faces increased competition from other private equity-backed accessories retailers such as Houston-based Charming Charlie Inc., which sources have told The Daily Deal has been shopped to prospective buyers. Charming Charlie is majority owned by private equity firm Hancock Park Associates.

Claire's has its admirers. Ascena Retail Group Inc. has cited the specialty retailer as a potentially attractive target, although with the caveat that it could be a bigger deal than Ascena could pull off.