A pedestrian walks past a Freshii Inc. restaurant in Vancouver.Ben Nelms/Bloomberg
Freshii Inc., the health-food restaurant chain, raised $125.4-million in the biggest initial public offering in Canada in four months, according to people familiar with the transaction.
The Toronto-based company and its investors sold 10.9 million subordinate voting shares for $11.50 apiece in its offering, at the high end of its revised range of $10 to $11.50 each, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the terms aren't public. The sale gives Freshii a projected market value of $360-million, based on 31.3 million shares outstanding.
Freshii's IPO is the largest in Canada since Aritzia Inc. raised $460-million in its September offering. Freshii plans to list on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FRII.
Freshii initially sought to sell shares for $8.50 to $10 each to raise as much as $109-million for the company and investors including Jaxii Holdings LLC, a firm controlled by Freshii Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Corrin, according to a Jan. 9 regulatory filing. It raised the price range earlier this week after substantial demand, the people said.
A representative for Freshii declined to comment.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Jefferies Securities and Royal Bank of Canada are leading a group of banks on the IPO. The banks have an option to sell an additional 15 per cent of the offering after it closes.