Kathmandu 'could be floated next month'

Jan Cameron. Photo / Simon Baker

Outdoor equipment retailer Kathmandu may sell shares in an initial public offering as early as next month, two people familiar with the matter said.

The Christchurch-based company, jointly owned by Goldman Sachs JBWere and Quadrant Private Equity, will probably decide within two weeks whether to proceed with the sale, the people said, declining to be identified because the plans aren't public.

The IPO may raise about A$400 million ($484 million), based on preliminary estimates, one of the people said.

Macquarie Group, Australia's largest investment bank, and Goldman Sachs JBWere have been hired as advisers, the people said.

Goldman Sachs JBWere and Quadrant led the leveraged buyout of Kathmandu for $275 million in April 2006.

In September that year, the firms bought the remaining 49 per cent stake from Jan Cameron, who founded the retailer in 1987.

Kathmandu has more than 80 stores in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

The sale may take place in late October or early November and Kathmandu's owners haven't decided how much of the business to sell, the people said.

The company, which also has an office in Melbourne, may opt for a dual listing in Australia and New Zealand, one of the people said.

Australian companies, most of them retailers, may announce more than A$10 billion of initial share sales by June, UBS AG, the biggest arranger of stock offerings in Australia since 2006, said this month.

IPOs in the nation raised a combined A$674 million so far this year, according to the stock exchange.

- BLOOMBERG