Habit Restaurants Commences Secondary Offering

Habit Restaurants Inc. (NASDAQ: HABT) has commenced a secondary “follow-on” offering just about a year after the company itself came public. The offering is for a total of 5.75 million shares, and at the most recent closing price ($23.95) the offering is valued up to $137.7 million.

The underwriters for this offering are Piper Jaffray, Baird, Wells Fargo, Stephens, Raymond James and Stifel.

The Habit Burger Grill is a high-growth, fast casual restaurant concept that specializes in preparing fresh, made-to-order char-grilled burgers and sandwiches featuring USDA choice tri-tip steak, grilled chicken and sushi-grade albacore tuna cooked over an open flame. In addition, it features freshly prepared salads and an appealing selection of sides, shakes and malts. The char-grilled preparation of fresh burgers, topped with caramelized onions and fresh produce, has generated tremendous consumer response, resulting in its burger being named the “best tasting burger in America” in July 2014 in a comprehensive survey conducted by one of America’s leading consumer magazines.

The company operates in the approximately $39 billion fast casual restaurant segment, which it believes has created significant recent disruption in the restaurant industry and is rapidly gaining market share from adjacent restaurant segments, resulting in significant growth opportunities for restaurant concepts such as The Habit.

On November 25, 2014, Habit completed its initial public offering of 5.75 million shares of Class A common stock at a price to the public of $18.00 per share, raising net proceeds of $96.3 million after underwriting discounts and commissions but before expenses.

Additionally, on April 15, 2015, the company completed a follow-on offering of 5.75 million shares of Class A common stock, including the underwriters’ exercise in full of its option to purchase 750,000 additional shares, at a price to the public of $30.96 per share. All these shares were offered by the selling stockholders.

This current offering is the next step by selling shareholders to take profit after the IPO. Habit will not receive any proceeds from this current offering as well.

Shares of Habit were trading down over 8% at $21.95 Tuesday morning, with a consensus analyst price target of $36.50 and a 52-week trading range of $20.76 to $44.20.

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