Shares in Levi Strauss & Co surged 31 per cent in their debut on Thursday, giving the U.S. jeans maker a market value of $8.7-billion and indicating a strong investor appetite ahead of much-awaited listings from Lyft and Uber Technologies.
After 14 years as a public company, it was taken private by the Haas family, the descendants of founder Levi Strauss, in a $1.6-billion leveraged buyout. “The company and the underwriters targeted a reasonable valuation to start and allowed the true investor demand to dictate price which ultimately came one-dollar above range.”The company reported a 14 per cent rise in revenue to $5.6-billion in 2018, a majority of which came from men’s denim. Its biggest market is Americas, which accounts for about 55 per cent of total revenue.