Krispy Kreme eyes near $4 billion valuation in U.S. IPO

(Reuters) -Krispy Kreme Inc is targeting a valuation of nearly $4 billion in a U.S. initial public offering, according to a regulatory filing on Tuesday, as the donut chain aims a return to the stock market to capitalize on the record capital markets activity.

Known for its iconic glazed donuts, the company plans to sell about 26.7 million shares priced between $21 and $24 per share, the filing showed. At the upper end of the price range, it would raise about $640 million.

Krispy Kreme's listing plans come at a time when the U.S. IPO market is witnessing unprecedented levels of activity, with companies having already raised around $171 billion, according to data from Dealogic, scorching past last year's record of $168 billion.

The donut seller had confidentially filed with regulators in early May, which revealed a surge in revenue in the first quarter of 2021, driven by rising demand for sugary snacks during the pandemic.

Krispy Kreme opened its first store in North Carolina in 1937 when it started selling doughnuts in local grocery stores. It first went public in 2000 but its unit had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2005.

It sold 1.3 billion donuts across 30 countries in fiscal 2020, capping the highest level of sales in the brand's history, with net revenues of $1.1 billion.

The IPO would mark Krispy Kreme's return to U.S. stock markets five years after it was taken private by JAB Holding Co in a $1.35 billion deal in 2016.

J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities and Citigroup are the lead book-running managers for the offering. It intends to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "DNUT".

(Reporting by Sohini Podder in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

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