Amplify Snack Brands, the US business behind brands including SkinnyPop popcorn and Paqui tortilla chips, has set out plans to go public.
The company, majority owned by private-equity firm TA Associates, is offering 15m shares in the flotation. The selling shareholders have also granted the underwriters of the IPO a 30-day option to buy up to 2,250,000 additional shares.
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The IPO price is expected to be between US$14 and $16 a share. The selling stockholders, including TA Associates and co-founder Andy Friedman, will receive all the proceeds from the listing.
Funds and entities affiliated with TA Associates are expected to hold more than 50% of the voting power in the business when it is listed. When the IPO is completed, the selling shareholders will own around 77.2% of Amplify's outstanding common stock, or approximately 74.2% if the underwriters' exercise their option to purchase additional shares)
A date for the IPO has not been disclosed and the company would not comment beyond what is stated in the listing prospectus.
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TA Associates invested in SkinnyPop last year. In April, the popcorn maker added tortilla and tortilla chips business Paqui to its business.
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By GlobalDataIn the prospectus, Amplify provided non-GAAP financial results for 2014 by combining its figures from before and after the TA Associates investment.
It filed net sales of $132.4m, versus $55.7m in 2013. The company booked operating income of $43.1m – against $30.6m in 2013 – and net income of $35.3m, compared with $30.6m the previous year.
The prospectus contained Amplify's take on the US salty snacks market, the better-for-you category and its position within the sector.
It estimated the US salty snacks market to be worth around $18bn in annual retail sales and forecast growth of approximately 3-4% per year through to the end of 2019.
The company said sales of better-for-you products were outpacing the wider salty snacks market."We believe that within the salty snack segment, BFY-focused brands are taking share from conventional brands, and we estimate that BFY-focused brands experienced aggregate growth in excess of 10% in 2014," it said.
Amplify said the ready-to-eat popcorn category – which it valued at $966m – is the "fastest growing sub-segment within US salty snacks, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 14.6% since 2010".
It added: "Within RTE popcorn, SkinnyPop was the fastest growing brand of scale in 2014, increasing its share of the sub-segment by 6.5 percentage points to 12.1% and accounting for more than 40% of total sub-segment growth."
Amplify said it is looking to secure new customers and extend its range at current clients.
"Based on IRI data, management estimates that, as of December 31, 2014, SkinnyPop currently has less than 20% retail penetration within the more than 250,000 potential US retail locations," the prospectus read.
It added: "While SkinnyPop is highly attractive to retail customers given its premium price and attractive sales velocities, the average retail location carries only 2.3 of our UPCs per store compared to approximately 5.6 for our largest RTE popcorn competitors."
Amplify also hinted at international plans. "According to Nielsen, North America represents approximately one-third of the global snacking market, and recent trends in North America, including a focus on BFY products, are becoming more prevalent globally. We believe our brands will resonate with consumers in markets outside North America."
Amplify has secured approval to list shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BETR.
