December 2020: San Diego Based Petco Files IPO

Photo by Pavel Herceg on Unsplash

Petco, a San Diego, CA based company, has filed an initial public offering with the SEC.

This isn’t the first time Petco has gone public, as it was publicly traded twice before becoming private again. The last time the company attempted to file their IPO they were instead purchased by private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board for $4.6 billion (as reported by Petco). This time around, Petco plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol WOOF.

Petco was founded in 1965 and has grown to have about 1,500 locations across North America. Initially Petco specialized in pet products but has expanded to offer services in their stores like vet clinics and grooming centers. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a boom in pet adoption and spending but Petco is still competing with digital retailers like Amazon and Chewy for sales along with other brick and mortar suppliers. Petco reported $24.8m in net losses and $3.3bn in debt for the 39 weeks ended 31 October 2020 (As reported by Private Equity Insights).

Petco is headquartered right here in our own backyard of Rancho Bernardo and employs roughly 600 folks at that location, in addition to owning the naming rights for Petco Park, home of our beloved San Diego Padres!

For more details, read the official Petco news release here.

Information provided in this commentary is not intended to be, and should not be construed as, investment, legal or tax advice; and does not constitute an offer, or a solicitation of any offer, to buy or sell any security, investment or other product.