Shake Shack IPO price values burger chain at $700m
Shake Shack shares will be priced $21 per share when it floats in New York today, valuing it at a juicy $700m.
The American fast food chain sold 5m shares from its IPO, with a further 750,000 Class A shares potentially made available at the underwriter's discretion. The stock will be listed as “SHAK”.
Selling 5m shares at $21 raised $105m for the chain.
Shake Shack, which began out of a New York hot dog cart just over a decade ago, now has 63 stores around the world, including its London outpost in Covent Garden market. The company generated more than $80m (£52m) in sales for the first nine months of 2014.
It is just one of a number of fast-growing burger chains considered a high-end alternative to McDonald’s or Burger King. In the UK, that list also includes Five Guys and Byron Burger.
In a letter to prospective shareholders restaurateur Danny Meyer, the founder of Shake Shack, described his vision for the company:
Our vision was for Shake Shack to be a ‘community wealth venture’. We would raise the money philanthropically to build the kiosk, then we'd gift it to the park, which would in turn become our landlord. We would own the business, and the park would receive rent as a percentage of our sales.If it worked, we'd employ people, give food lovers a great reason to visit the park from 11am to 11pm, and we'd sell a lot of wonderful food from our favorite suppliers. And if it really worked, the park would feel safer, and much needed dollars would be generated to provide funding for the park's robust budget for ongoing maintenance, horticulture, and public programming.
The IPO will be underwritten by JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.