The latest food company to ride the IPO wave is Chobani. The company announced early Wednesday that it has filed for a confidential draft registration statement for a proposed IPO with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reported MarketWatch.
The New York-based company, best known for its Greek yogurt, has not yet determined how many shares it will offer in the IPO, or the expected price range offering.
ON THE HEELS OF OATLY IPO
The announcement follows plant-based milk company Oatly’s IPO, which prompted its stock to soar more than 30% out of the gate, according to another report from MarketWatch (May 21).
The company, previously only sold in niche coffee shops and grocery stores, is now valued at $13 billion following the surge on its first day of trading.
ANALYST’S OUTLOOK
On a recent Food Institute Podcast, we spoke with Bloomberg Intelligence senior analyst Jennifer Bartashus about how companies, such as Chobani, could go public this year, and whether consumer demand for plant-based products could propel them to record-breaking valuations.
“With Chobani it’s an interesting choice because it has a huge leading market share in yogurt and it dominates other brands like Yoplait, so there’s a certain stability and predictability to the company’s sales and profit that come with that,” she said. “And now that it’s expanding more into plant-based it offers a component of its portfolio that is growth oriented, so it’s sort of a nice blend.”
It’s an ideal time for Chobani to be accessing the capital markets, especially based on the success of Oatly, Beyond Meat and other growth-oriented consumer food products. The stock market is near all-time highs and strong brands like Chobani are able to reach strong valuations, noted Brian Choi, managing partner and CEO of The Food Institute.
