The parent company of Portland-based Barber Foods is preparing to take the company public, a move that could affect its St. John Street plant, where 300 people are employed.

According to a filing Monday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Cincinnati-based AdvancePierre intends to pursue an initial public offering of shares of its common stock. The number of shares and price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined, so it’s not clear how much the company is hoping to raise.

AdvancePierre, which reported revenues of $1.6 billion in 2015, said the IPO is intended to position itself for growth. The company hired a new CEO in September 2013 and replaced four of its seven top executives to pursue an aggressive growth strategy.

It makes and sells a wide range of sandwich, entrée and bakery products, many of them aimed at food-service, vending and convenience store operations.

Whether an IPO is good or bad news for Maine is not clear. Although the company is expanding, it also expects to reduce overhead costs among its 10 production plants and three distribution centers. Questions asked of the company’s public relations firm were not answered because it is in a silent period while preparing for the IPO.

But there are good indicators for Maine. The Portland plant makes stuffed chicken entrées, and 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.

Also in Portland’s favor: The 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.

In 2015, production lines at the St. John Street facility were reconfigured to relaunch Barber stuffed entrées, according to the filing. The company claims it is No. 1 in the frozen stuffed entrée market, with 68 percent of market share.

It also said it expects to launch new products for Barber Foods and expand distribution “within rapidly growing dollar stores.”

Part of its penetration into dollar stores is the popularity of its sandwich products, according to the filing. In fiscal year 2015, 67.4 percent of net sales were attributable to the fast-growing ready-to-eat sandwiches and sandwich components categories.

A possible detraction for Portland’s facility is its presumed higher energy costs. In its SEC filing, the company identifies energy costs as a variable that could constrain its ability to grow.

The company said it has in-house cold storage facilities and also uses commercial cold storage space for its products. If electricity costs rise, higher cold storage costs are passed on to AdvancePierre and the company may be unable to raise its prices to reflect those higher costs, affecting finances.

Gov. Paul LePage has been pushing for policies that lower Maine’s electricity rates, which for industrial users are among the highest in the country. He has consistently cited energy costs as a reason Maine companies downsize, close or leave the state.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in January the average price of electricity for industrial users in Maine was 9.12 cents per kilowatt-hour. The price of electricity in other states where AdvancePierre has production facilities were: Oklahoma, 4.3 cents per kilowatt-hour; Ohio, 6.84 cents; North Carolina, 6.16 cents; South Carolina, 5.86 cents; and Illinois, 6.31 cents per kilowatt-hour.

AdvancePierre has about 4,000 employees nationwide. Oaktree Capital Management, a Los Angeles investment firm, is AdvancePierre’s largest shareholder.

Barber Foods, founded in 1955, was family-owned until it was purchased by AdvancePierre in 2011. It had a long-standing tradition of hiring immigrants, a nod to the experience of its founders, who were Armenian immigrants.

Both companies were privately owned and terms were not disclosed.

At the time of the purchase, Barber Foods was consolidating its production line in Portland After the sale, AdvancePierre moved production of cooked foods to another of its plants in Oklahoma, with production of raw products, including the stuffed chicken breasts and chicken tenders, staying in Portland. Between the consolidation and the relocation of the cooked products, the company laid off 232 workers in 2011 and 2012.

In July 2015, Barber Foods voluntarily recalled 1.7 million pounds of frozen, raw chicken over concerns it could be contaminated with salmonella. The company submitted a $15 million insurance policy claim to cover its loss.

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