Michaels Stores Inc., the largest arts-and-crafts retailer in North America, filed Friday for up to $500 million of shares to be sold in an initial public offering.
The Irving, Texas, company is returning to the public markets six years after a group led by private-equity firms Bain Capital LLC and Blackstone Group LP bought it for more than $6 billion. The deal comes amid a period of store expansion and growing sales for Michaels.
Michaels plans to use proceeds from the offering to repay debt and for general corporate purposes, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission Friday. The company plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “MIK.”
The private-equity firms tried to restore operating discipline to the company, which was founded by Michael J. Dupey in Dallas in 1976.
For the year ended Jan. 28, the company’s earnings rose to $176 million from $103 million a year earlier, according to the filing. Sales rose 4.4 percent to $4.21 billion.
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