Canadian retailer Roots to file a 164 million dollars IPO

Canadian heritage-fashion retailer Roots Corp. will soon take its company public. The company will focus on taking the North American market by storm and aims expand its international footprint after launching an IPO.

Roots has applied to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ROOT.

Roots’ IPO could give the company a market valuation of 574 million dollars

As reported by Bloomberg, Roots’ filed for an initial public offering in Toronto on Wednesday, allegedly looking to get about 200 million Canadian dollars (about 164 million U.S. dollars). Although there is not a set a date for the IPO, it’s said to be for the last days of September. Market sources indicated to Bloomberg that the deal could give the retailer a market value of about 700 million Canadian dollars (574 million U.S. dollars).

The IPO is being led by Toronto-Dominion Bank, Credit Suisse Group AG and Bank of Montreal, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday.

Roots currently operates 120 stores in North America and has a partner running another 136 between Taiwan and China. After floating, the fashion retailer is looking to open dozens of new locations, focusing first in North America.

The Canadian label is also known to be looking for growth in Asia, planning 25 new locations across Taiwan and China, and building a presence in Singapore and Malaysia in the same time frame.

“When you have such large expansion goals and projections, then it makes sense to go forward with an IPO,” said Tamara Szames, a Canadian fashion and apparel analyst at the NPD Group.

An initial public offering would provide some of the capital necessary to fund the expansion plan, she said.

The retailer is eyeing a favorable outcome, similar to that of other Canadian fashion retailers such Aritzia and Canada Goose. Shares in Canada Goose have gone up by more than 40 percent since they began trading earlier this year. On the contrary, Aritzia’s stock has fallen below their IPO price (trading around 14 dollars apiece versus the 16 dollars they got as the initial price).

Image:Roots, Official Web