BJ’s Files to Go Public

BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings Inc. has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering (IPO) of the company’s common stock.

An application has been made for listing the common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “BJ,” but the number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering haven’t yet been determined.

The retailer listed the offering size at $100 million in the filing, Bloomberg reported, noting, however, that the figure is a placeholder amount for calculating fees and will probably change. 

BofA Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and J.P. Morgan are acting as joint lead book-running managers and as representatives of the underwriters for the proposed offering, which will be made only by means of a prospectus available from those companies.

BJ’s was taken private seven years ago by private equity firms CVC and Leonard Green & Partners, which acquired the company for about $2.8 billion in 2011.

In other BJ's news, President and CEO Christopher J. Baldwin has also become chair of the company's board of directors, while his immediate predecessor, Laura Sen, has retired from the board and CVC Managing Director Nishad Chande has joined it.

Based in Westborough, Mass., BJ’s operates 215 membership warehouse clubs and 134 BJ’s Gas locations in 16 states.