(By Balachander) Guitar maker Fender Musical Instruments Corp. (FMIC) expects to raise as much as $161 million in an initial public offering to accelerate its international growth.
Scottsdale, Arizona-based Fender is offering 7.14 million shares at between $13 and $15 apiece, according to a regulatory filing. Growth capital firm Weston Presidio is selling around 3.57 million shares.
The company, whose flagship guitars include the iconic Telecaster, Stratocaster, Precision Bass and Jazz Bass models and the popular Jazzmaster, Jaguar and Mustang models, estimates net proceeds to be roughly $88.2 million and expects to have roughly 26.36 million shares outstanding after the offering.
Fender's earnings were $19 million in 2011 compared with a net loss of $1.7 million in 2010. Its sales increased to $701 million last year from $618 million.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2012, Fender's net income was $1.9 million on sales of $174 million. In the same period a year ago, the company earned $6.9 million on sales of $170.1 million.
The company expects earnings in the second quarter of 2012 to be between $3.0 million and $3.4 million on sales in the range of $166 million to $168 million.
Fender has applied to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol "FNDR."
Weston Presidio, which now owns 42.92 percent of Fender, will own around 17.7 percent of the company after the offering,
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC (JPM) and William Blair & Company LLC are acting as joint book-running managers of the offering.