Party City Re-IPO Closer to Market (PRTY, PCTY)

This will be another private equity re-IPO when it comes to market.  Berkshire Partners and Weston Presidio took the company private in very late-2005 under the AAH Holdings Corporation name and this stock used to trade under the stock ticker “PCTY” on NASDAQ.  The total consideration paid in the buyout was said to be roughly $364 million.

The company posted revenues of $1.60 billion and net income of $49.4 million for the year ending 2010.   For 2009 the company posted revenues of $1.49 billion and net income of $62.8 million.  For the quarter ending March 31, 2011 the company posted a loss of $2.6 million on $356 million in revenues.  For the same quarter in 2010 posted a smaller loss of $369 thousand on smaller revenues of $308 million.

Over the last five years, AAH established the largest network of party supply stores in the United States with over 1,200 locations.  Those are some 800 party superstores, about 230 of which are franchised stores.  Most stores are under the Party City banner name and it has a temporary Halloween network of over 400 locations under the Halloween City banner.  It also operates an e-commerce site under its company namesake.

The amended S-1 lists Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Deutsche Bank as lead underwriters.  For whatever this is worth, Goldman Sachs also advised AAH Holdings on the buyout transaction more than five years ago.  The filing also listed Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Robert W. Baird & Company, William Blair & Company, RBC Capital Markets and Stifel, Nicolaus & Company in the underwriting group.

That full SEC filing is here.

JON C. OGG