Pets at Home sets price range for £1.3bn stock market float

Bookbuilding is expected to close on March 12. The company is expected to be eligible for inclusion on the FTSE UK at the quarterly review in June.

Proceeds from Pets at Home’s offer of £280m will allow it to reduce its indebtedness and, together with its £325m from its new existing senior facilities agreement.

Pets at Home will have net debt of around £275m and a forecast an underlying EBITDA of £110.2m in March 2014.

The total size of the offer will deliver a free float of between 25% and 40% of the issued share capital.

Private equity owner KKR and other shareholders are making shares representing 15% of the offer available if it is oversubscribed.

Around 85% of the offer will be allocated to institutional investors while 15% of the offer will be allocated to members of the public and Pets at Home staff.

Pets at Home is making shares available to its staff in £250, £500 and £750 tranches. It is expected that 85% of the offer will be allocated to institutional investors while 15% will go to members of the public and staff.

Pets at Home chief executive Nick Wood said: “We are excited about the opportunities for Pets at Home as a listed business. Pets at Home has a clear position of leadership in the UK pet care market, a track record of consistently strong performance and a highly differentiated customer proposition.

“We believe the listing will provide us with the right platform for the next stage of the group’s growth and development. We have multiple growth opportunities, including growing the number of Pets at Home stores to over 500, the roll out of Vets4Pets and the Groom Room to our customers, the further growth of our omnichannel offering and enhancing the relationship with our customers through our VIP loyalty programme.”