The parent of Portland’s Barber Foods saw robust trading on its first day as a public company.
AdvancePierre Foods Holdings Inc. started selling its stock at $21 per share when the markets opened Friday and then closed its first day of trading at $24 per share, an increase of 14.29 percent. The Cincinnati-based packaged sandwich and foods company sold 11.1 million shares to raise $233 million.
The company announced last week that it intended to take the company public as a way to reduce $1.3 billion in debt, and expected to get a stock price of between $20 and $23 per share.
By 1 p.m. Friday, the stock was trading at $23.78, up 13.26 percent of its initial asking price.
In a Friday release, the company said it was selling 11,090,000 shares of common stock and the selling stockholders are selling 7,510,000 shares of common stock. The initial public offering price was $21 per share for a total base offering size of $390,600,000.
The company, which makes sandwiches, snacks and entrées, reported $1.6 billion in sales in April. It makes stuffed, frozen chicken entrées at its St. John Street plant where about 300 people are employed.
Shares started trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “APFH.” The offering is expected to close on Wednesday, July 20 subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, according to the release.
At the time of its initial filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, AdvancePierre said the IPO is intended to position the company for growth. It hired a new CEO in September 2013 and replaced four of its seven top executives to pursue an aggressive growth strategy.
The Barber Foods products are the company’s biggest-selling retail line. The entrées and snack division of the company accounted for roughly a third of net sales in 2015.
The Portland plant is the only one in the AdvancePierre network that works with raw foods, and one of three that make stuffed entrées products. It also invested in production upgrades last year, and operates the largest plant – at 250,000 square feet – of the 10 production facilities under the AdvancePierre name.
Following the offering, funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management will continue to own a majority of the outstanding common stock of AdvancePierre.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.