Birkenstock IPO: Price range kicks up lofty valuation as stock listing date nears

If you’ve kicked your sandals off in anticipation of a break from the recent slate of IPO news, put them back on, because footwear company Birkenstock is lacing up in anticipation of going public as soon as this week.

The German company, perhaps best known for its premium sandals, clogs, and other footwear offerings, is the latest in a series of relatively high-profile companies to list shares in New York in recent months. The company initially filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in anticipation of an IPO last month. More recently, it updated its filings to say that it is seeking a valuation of up to $9.2 billion.

Birkenstock expects shares will be price between $44 and $49. The stock will likely be listed on the New York Stock Exchange and trade under the BIRK ticker.

It’s unclear when shares could begin trading exactly, but it’s likely that it will be within a week or two.

The company was purchased for $4.3 billion in early 2021 by L Catterton, a private equity firm that’s backed by the French luxury conglomerate LVMH. Birkenstock is different in many ways from some of the tech-focused companies that have gone public recently, like Instacart and Arm Holdings. For one, it’s an apparel company at its core, and one that’s been around for a long time: It was founded in 1774 and its products have been sold in the United States since the mid-1960s. 

According to its updated F-1, Birkenstock generated €1.24 billion in revenue (around $1.32 billion) during its fiscal year 2022, and a net profit of €187.1 million (around $198 million). For the nine months ended June 30, the filing shows that revenue totaled €1.12 billion, or around $1.19 billion. Net profit for the period was €103 million, or around $109 million.

The IPO market has become noticeably busier over the last few weeks, with Instacart, Arm Holdings, and Klaviyo all recently going public. Despite the seemingly sluggish action in the IPO markets this year as a whole, there were 36 IPOs in the Americas (33 in the U.S.) during the third quarter, raising a cumulative $8.6 billion—an increase of 238% year-over-year. All told, the IPO market for 2023 is on pace to look similar to 2019’s.

In addition to Birkenstock, investors are still anticipating IPOs from companies like Reddit and Stripe by the end of the year, too.