Levi Strauss Is Reportedly Planning a $5 Billion IPO
Blue jean giant Levi Strauss & Co is planning an extra-large public offering that would value the company at $ 5 billion, sources told CNBC.
Levi’s announced its fourth consecutive quarter of double-digit revenue growth for Q3 last month, and CNBC reports that the denim maker is hoping to raise between $ 500 and $ 800 million in the intervening months before a projected Q1 2019 IPO led by Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan .
The 145-year-old company has made other headlines this year for its vocal corporate support of gun violence prevention, voter turnout, and climate change prevention.
“As president and CEO of a values-driven company that’s known the world over as a pioneer of the American West and one of the great symbols of American freedom, I take the responsibility of speaking up on the important issues of our day very seriously,” Levi’s president and CEO Chip Bergh wrote in Fortune when announcing the company’s September pledge to donate more than $ 1 million to gun control groups.
This wouldn’t be the company’s first IPO. Levi’s first went public in 1971 and re-privatized in 1996 following buyouts from Levi Strauss’ descendants.