Fairway Market has priced its initial public offering (IPO) of 13.7 million Class A shares at between $10 and $12 per share as it seeks to raise as much as $164 million.
At the high end of the price range, the specialty grocery chain would be valued at about $495 million, according to a Reuters report. Fairway Market, which operates nine stores in Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, is majority owned by private equity firm Sterling Investment Partners.
The company, which posted a loss of $56.1 million up from a loss of $10 million from the year ago, intends to list its Class A common stock on the NASDAQ under the symbol FWM.
Credit Suisse, BofA, Merrill Lynch, Jefferies and William Blair will underwrite its IPO, the company told the Security and Exchange Commission.
Fairway was founded in 1933 as a modest fruit and vegetable stand by Nathan Glickberg. In 1954, Nathan and his son, Leo, partnered to create the beginnings of the first store at 74th Street and Broadway in New York. At that time, they decided to rename the business and Leo’s wife, Cynthia, suggested using the name Fairway because her own father had successfully operated a business under that name. She felt it was a lucky name.
Sterling Investment Partners invested in the business in 2006 as several principals were retiring.
