Outdoor financials: Cabela's IPO hits a high on NYSE, plus VF, Vans, Russell, Galyan's

Cabela’s IPO hits a high on NYSE
June 25 turned out to be a blockbuster day for Cabela’s Inc., a direct marketer and specialty retailer in hunting, fishing and outdoor merchandise, when the price of its initial public offering shot up as high as 40 percent.

Trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “CAB,” Cabela’s issued 6,250,000 primary shares of common stock with another 1,562,500 shares available. Cabela’s original goal was $15 to $17 a share, but after Dick’s Sporting Goods purchase of Galyan’s, Cabela’s upped its offering price to $20 a share. Not only did it hit that mark, shares traded as high as $27.95, settling at the close of day at a $26 value. All 7.9 million shares were sold.

Richard and James Cabela, the brothers who founded Cabela’s in 1961, reaped $150 million cash last September by selling down their stakes, and sold no shares in conjunction with the IPO. The brothers and Mary Cabela, Richard’s wife, will emerge from the IPO with a combined 54.2 percent holding valued at $931 million. J.P. Morgan Partners will own 19.2 percent and McCarthy Group, 15.8 percent. Public stockholders will own 6.25 million shares, or 9.6 percent.

Cabela’s said it will use $113 million in net IPO proceeds to retire $37 million to $42 million of outstanding debt on its revolving credit facility and to fund construction of new stores.

Cabela’s posted $51.4 million in net income on revenue of $1.4 billion in 2003, up from $46.9 million earned on $1.2 billion in 2002. The Sidney, Neb.-based, company sells hunting, fishing and camping gear by catalog and has nine stores in the Midwest.

Credit Suisse First Boston and JP Morgan are serving as joint bookrunners, with Wachovia Securities, Stephens Inc. and William Blair & Company serving as co-managers for the offering.

Vans, VF resolve shareholder lawsuit
VF Corp. (NYSE: VFC) and Vans (NasdaqNM:VANS ), its most recent acquisition, have settled a lawsuit filed by Vans shareholder Freeport Partners LLC over unfair pricing. The suit charged Vans with breaching fiduciary duties to shareholders by agreeing to sell itself to VF at an unfair price, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. To resolve the matter, Vans said it has agreed to make additional public disclosures, and the companies said they also agreed to reduce a termination fee payable by Vans to $8 million from $10.9 million.

Russell looks to sell $250 million in stock
On June 25, Russell Corp. (NYSE:RML) filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to $250 million in debt, debt guarantees, common stock, preferred stock, preferred stock purchase rights and warrants periodically. The company said it plans to use the proceeds for debt repayment, acquisitions and other capital expenses. The filing did not provide a breakdown on how the offering would be divided among the expected debt and equity components.

City of Plainfield, Indiana, ticked at Galyan’s
Almost as soon as the ink was drying on the acquisition announcement of Galyan’s by Dick’s, the City of Plainfield (think Indianapolis for the geographically challenged) made it known that it wasn’t going to sit by and watch the $7 million the city contributed toward the construction of Galyan’s new headquarters get flushed. The city made it very clear that someone is going to have to pay the city, or there will be litigation. Dick’s announced that the company would be abandoning the new headquarters building and moving select Galyan’s staff to the Dick’s Pittsburgh, Pa., headquarters. It is likely that either Galyan’s (read shareholders) or the developer — or both — will have to cough up and return the funds.

VF names new VP

VF Corp. (NYSE:VFC) hired Michael Gannaway as vice president, customer
management and named a member of its Operating Committee on June 25. In
this newly created position, Gannaway will be responsible for
establishing cross-coalition strategies with key customers and report
to CEO Mackey McDonald. Gannaway has over 20 years of experience in
senior brand and customer management roles at Sara Lee, Revlon, and
Estee Lauder, working with key customers in all retail channels. Most
recently, he served as CEO of Pillowtex Corporation, briefly filling
that position with the challenge of successfully disposing of the
company’s assets.

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