Freshii location in Toronto
Freshii Inc., the health-food restaurant chain, aims to sell shares for $8.50 to $10 apiece in its initial public offering, according to regulatory filings.
Freshii and investors including Jaxii Holdings LLC, a firm controlled by Freshii chairman and chief executive officer Matthew Corrin, plan to sell 10.9 million subordinate voting shares in the IPO, raising as much as $109-million. The sale of a 35 per cent stake of Freshii values the company at about $313-million, based on 31.3 million shares outstanding.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Royal Bank of Canada are leading the sale. The banks have an option to sell an additional 15 per cent of the offering after it closes. Freshii is expected to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker FRII.
Freshii was founded in 2005 when Corrin, then 23, opened his first location in Toronto, according to its Dec. 19 filing. The restaurant chain, whose "mission" is to make healthy food convenient and affordable, now had 244 locations in 15 countries and more than 30 states and provinces in North America as of Sept. 25.
Freshii, which targets millennials, said it will use part of the proceeds to pay down debt and finance growth. The company aims to open 150 to 160 new franchise stores in fiscal 2017 and anticipates annual same-store sales growth of between 3 per cent and 4 per cent through fiscal 2019, according to its filing.