Why Birkenstock’s IPO filing is encouraging for investors
Why Birkenstock’s IPO filing is encouraging for investors
It’s big news for wearers of those hippyish-but-fashionable sandals with cork footbeds and leather straps. Oh, and it’s big news for stock investors too. We’re of course talking about an IPO for Birkenstock.
The German company — founded in 1774 and taken over by U.S. private-equity firm L Catterton in 2021 — has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to make an initial public offering, or IPO, on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol BIRK. Estimates of its potential value come to $7 billion or $8 billion.
And it’s not the only company jumping on the IPO train. We’ve now got IPOs coming up for Arm, a Japanese-owned, British-based semiconductor design powerhouse; grocery delivery service Instacart; and Klaviyo, which does marketing and data automation.
There was a burst of initial public offerings early in the pandemic, mostly in technology. But since late 2021, as inflation and interest rates rose, “the IPO window had been effectively — not closed entirely, but let’s call it very selective,” said Eric Freedman at U.S. Bank.
The IPO market now looks more promising, he said. “Some diversification by sector, as well as by geography, does suggest that there’s a little more of an appetite. But we would not say that the window is fully open. Let’s call it a crack.”
It’s a crack that Quincy Krosby at LPL Financial expects will widen. She said that investors are increasingly convinced the Federal Reserve will get inflation under control without many more interest rate hikes.
“The Federal Reserve, they are closer and closer to finishing their job,” Krosby said. “That helps the tone of the market, and it makes the market accessible for IPOs.”
What matters most now to the IPOing companies, their bankers and investors is market stability, per Jay Hatfield at Infrastructure Capital Advisors.
“The primary criteria is really a calm market. That’s what we have now,” he said. “Volatility is very, very low, which indicates that investors are confident we’re not going into a recession — confident enough to put new capital to work in IPOs.”
Deciding where to list shares is crucial. Birkenstock, based in Germany, is going public in the U.S. How come?
“The U.S. is still home to probably the largest pool of capital,” said Sameer Samana at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “There is an element of, ‘If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.’”
Still, Vincent Harrison at PitchBook said that an iconic German brand like Birkenstock deciding to go public in the U.S. “is a bit of a blow to Europe. I think a lot of it is the relative good performance that U.S. public markets have been having.”
We don’t know how much Birkenstock shares will sell for at their debut. But a pair of the company’s (Barbie-friendly) leather sandals could set you back $130 or more.
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