KKR Plans Dollar General IPO
GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. (
) --
Dollar General
, the largest discount retailer in the U.S., filed its initial public offering, backed by private equity firm
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
.
Dollar General's IPO is expected to raise up to $750 million, according to its regulatory filing, which would make it the largest offering in 2009. No pricing terms of the IPO were disclosed in the filing with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
.
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Dollar General had been a publicly traded company until July 2007, when it was acquired by KKR in a leveraged buyout deal worth $7.2 billion. The company operates more than 8,500 stores in the U.S., making it the largest discount retailer by store count.
For KKR, the acquisition has been one of the firm's best investments. In 2008, Dollar General posted net income of $108.2 million, compared to a loss of $4.8 million in 2007. The discount retailer reported net income of $83 million for the first quarter of 2009, compared to $5.9 million in the year-ago quarter.
And while the economic recession has crimped other retailers, Dollar General said it plans to open approximately 500 new stores in 2009 and to relocate or remodel approximately 450 stores.
In addition to KKR,
Citigroup
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and
Goldman Sachs
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were the lead underwriters of the deal.
