Pet supplies retailer PetSmart is said in discussions to go public through a SPAC led by private equity firm KKR & Co. that could value the chain at about $14B including debt.
KKR Acquisition Holdings I Corp. (NYSE:KAHC) is early talks to take PetSmart, which is owned by PE firm BC Partners, public, according to a Bloomberg report. Discussions about a deal could still end without an agreement.
A transaction would return PetSmart back to the public markets after BC Partners took the retailer private in a $8.7B acquisition in 2015. PetSmart acquired e-commerce platform Chewy (NYSE:CHWY) in 2017 and BC Partners split PetSmart and Chewy in 2020 in a recapitalization transaction and Chewy later had its own IPO.
KKR Acquisition Holdings (KAHC), a SPAC founded by investment giant KKR. (NYSE:KKR) and Lululemon Athletica Chairman Glenn Murphy, raised more than $1.2B in a March IPO.