(Reuters) -German premium footwear brand Birkenstock on Tuesday filed for an initial public offering in the United States, coming hot on the heels of filings by British chipmaker Arm and grocery app Instacart in a sign of recovery in U.S. capital markets.
Birkenstock’s filing with the U.S. securities regulator did not disclose the financial details of the offering, but revealed net revenue for the six months ended March 31 rose 19% to 644.17 million euros ($693.06 million).
The German sandal maker’s IPO launch also follows the marketing blitz around blockbuster movie “Barbie” in which star Margot Robbie was seen donning a pair of pink Birkenstocks, boosting the popularity of the comfort-focused footwear among fashion aficionados.
U.S. exchanges have seen a series of new listings as the IPO sector looks set for a comeback with investor confidence returning to the market.
In July, Birkenstock majority owner L Catterton’s beauty firm Oddity Tech rose 40% on its Nasdaq debut. L Catterton is a private equity firm backed by LVMH.
Birkenstock’s trademark typically has been comfort rather than fashion. On its website, the company says all elements of its design – the buckles, the straps, the sole and the footbed – have a “functional purpose”.
The company traces its roots back to 1774 and is a sixth-generation family-owned business. Most of its products are manufactured in facilities in Rhineland-Palatinate, North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse and Saxony in Germany.
($1 = 0.9295 euros)
(Reporting by Niket Nishant, Akash Sriram and Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
