Birkenstock has filed for an initial public offering in New York, in another sign of the allure US equity markets hold for European firms seeking a valuation uplift.
The German footwear maker, whose sandals are worn by hippies and preppies alike, will continue to be controlled by private equity firm L Catterton, according to a filing on Tuesday. The company will disclose the proposed terms of the share sale in a later filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The IPO could value Birkenstock at more than US$8 billion ($10.89 billion), Bloomberg News reported previously. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering, which comes more than two years after L Catterton and the family investment company of billionaire Bernard Arnault acquired a majority stake in Birkenstock, valuing it at about EUR4 billion ($5.85 billion).
Listings boost
The US market for IPOs looks like it is finally coming back to life after 18 months in the doldrums. Birkenstock’s IPO filing comes hot the heels of others from SoftBank Group Corp.’s semiconductor designer Arm, grocery delivery firm Instacart Inc. and marketing and data automation provider Klaviyo Inc.
Founded nearly 250 years ago, Birkenstock developed a contoured insole for greater comfort. The modern, cork-lined sandals took hold in the 1970s, as shoppers became enamoured with the comfy style. Birkenstock has since become a high-fashion brand, launching collaborations with luxury names such as Dior, Manolo Blahnik and Valentino, and spawning variants from labels including Celine and Givenchy.
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More than half — 54% — of the company’s customers are in the Americas with Europe accounting for 36%, according to Tuesday’s filing. While women make up 72% of Birkenstock customers, the footwear has broad cross-generational appeal, led by millennials with 31% of sales, followed by baby boomers with 30%, Gen X with 27% and Gen Z with 12%.
A listing would cap off a successful run for the company, whose family heirs stepped back from management duties about a decade ago. Since then, it’s streamlined strategy, launched high-profile collaborations and experienced explosive growth in demand.
Sales increased during that period from EUR292 million ($426.93 million) in 2014 to EUR1.24 billion in 2022, according to the filing.
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‘Oldest start-up’
“We see ourselves as the oldest start-up on earth,” chief executive officer Oliver Reichert said in a letter to investors included in the filing. “We are a brand backed by a family tradition of a quarter of a millennium with the resilience, timeless relevance, and credibility of a multi-generational business.”
Sales have been boosted of late by the blockbuster Barbie movie, whose star Margot Robbie sports a pair of pink Birkenstocks in one scene.
For the six months ended March 31, the company had a net profit of EUR40 million on revenue of EUR644 million, according to the filing. That compares with EUR73 million on revenue of EUR543 million during the same period a year ago.
Birkenstock has also been investing heavily in building out its production sites in Germany, including a new EUR120 million factory in Pasewalk, a town north of Berlin.
The company, which will become Birkenstock Holding Ltd., plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BIRK.
