Charlotte-based Jeld-Wen files to go public
Charlotte-based door maker Jeld-Wen is planning to go public, according to a securities filing this week.
The company did not say how many shares it would issue or set a price. But as a place holder, Jeld-Wen said the offering could raise $100 million.
Headquartered uptown, Jeld-Wen manufactures windows and doors for HGTV’s remodelling TV show “Dream Home.” The company supplies products sold by retailers such as Home Depot, according to its website.
The initial public offering has been expected. In April, Bloomberg News, citing people familiar with the matter, said the IPO could raise about $500 million, valuing the company at about $5 billion including debt.
According to the filing Monday, Jeld-Wen will use the proceeds from the IPO for “general corporate purposes,” including sales and marketing activities, general and administrative matters and possibly acquisitions. The filing did not give a date for the IPO.
The filing also showed that CEO Mark Beck’s compensation last year placed him among the top-paid CEOs in Charlotte. In 2015, Beck made $13.7 million, which included a base salary of $81,731, a bonus of $1.3 million, $3.9 million in stock awards and $8.4 million in options. The stock grants were awarded to Beck when he came to the company in November from Danaher Corp., a Washington, D.C.-based manufacturer.
In 2011, private equity firm Onex invested $871 million in Jeld-Wen. At that time, Jeld-Wen completed a $460 million bond offering, which, with the sponsor’s investment, was used to refinance existing debt, Bloomberg reported.
Jeld-Wen said it was moving its North American headquarters to Charlotte from Oregon in 2012 thanks to a Job Development Investment Grant from North Carolina.
Jeld-Wen went on an acquisition spree last year, with its purchase of LaCantina Doors in October and Karona and Aneeta Window Systems in September, to name a few.
Jeld-Wen’s IPO would come at a relatively sluggish time for initial public offerings. There have been 26 IPOs priced so far this year, 65 percent fewer than at this time last year, according to money management firm Renaissance Capital, which focuses on newly public companies. The most recent Charlotte-based company to go public was chicken-and-biscuits chain Bojangles’, which began trading on the NASDAQ last May.
Bloomberg News contributed.
This story was originally published June 2, 2016 at 9:49 AM with the headline "Charlotte-based Jeld-Wen files to go public."