Toys "R" Us Inc. may be one of the next private equity-backed retailers to sport an initial public offering, says retail consultant Howard Davidowitz, founder of Davidowitz & Associates. The toy store chain would follow on the heels of successful public debuts Friday of discount retailer Dollar General Corp. (NYSE:DG), backed by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., and teen apparel retailer Rue21 Inc. (NASDAQ:RUE), backed by Apax Partners Worldwide LLP. Last month, Vitamin Shoppe Inc. (NYSE:VSI), backed by Irvingplace Capital Management LP and Blackstone Group LP (NYSE:BX), became the first U.S. retailer to go public in two years. Also in October, Dollarama Inc., backed by Bain Capital LLC, debuted on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Private equity firms in general and KKR in particular are expected to take more of their portfolio companies public soon. The Deal spoke with Davidowitz Friday on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as part of our ongoing video series about IPOs. See the video below or
download it at iTunes. - Mary Kathleen Flynn
For previous episodes of The Deal's IPO video series, shot on location at the New York Stock Exchange, click here for our talk with Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC's Todd Mason about secondary offerings, and click here
for our conversation with Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP's
Victor Boyajian about what it will take for the IPO market to open up
for venture capital-backed companies. Click here
for our conversation with the NYSE Euronext's (NYSE:NYX) Scott Cutler
on Hyatt Hotels Corp.'s (NYSE:H) successful debut last week. Click here
for our chat with Jim Robinson, co-founder of RRE Ventures, an
investor in disk storage provider Nexsan Technologies Inc., one of only
14 venture capital-backed companies registered to go public
with the SEC; and here for our talk with Deborah Farrington, partner, StarVest Partners, which backed NetSuite Inc. (NYSE:N).
