Nearly three years after filing to go public, the private equity-backed Toys ‘R’ Us decides to pull back from a market debut.
Toys ‘R’ Us on Friday asked to withdraw its filing for an initial public offering. The company cited “unfavorable market conditions,” and recent management changes.
The withdrawal was not a surprise. A year ago, a Toys “R” Us IPO seemed to many to be like a wind-up toy that was running out of steam. The company is facing management defections, a decline in same-store sales and relentless competition from Walmart and Amazon
Toys “R” Us had first filed to go public in May 2010. An offering would have given its private equity backers an exit from one of the most famous deals of the buyout boom era in the years before the financial crisis. The private equity giants Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company along with the real estate developer Vornado Realty Trust acquired the company for $6.6 billion in 2005.
Also on Friday, the company, which operates 1,540 stores, said that fourth-quarter net sales fell 2.6 percent, to $5.77 billion. Net earnings for the quarter slid to $239 million, compared with $343 million in the previous year — a decline the company attributed largely to a $34 million increase in interest expense and a $33 million increase in income tax expense.
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