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Chobani quietly files for IPO with expected $10B valuation

In early July, Greek yogurt producer Chobani quietly and confidentially filed for an IPO with an anticipated valuation of more than $10 billion, Reuters reported. The company has not yet determined the number of shares it will sell nor the price range for those shares when the company’s public offering goes live.

Chobani said that it will commence its public offering following the review of the SEC process. However, it did not reveal any other details about the public offering of its stock in a press release on the subject.

The Greek yogurt titan has been expanding rapidly in recent years prompting speculation that it would seek to go public. In February, the Wall Street Journal reported the first official whispers of this move, and, at the time, the publication pegged the company’s valuation at around $7 billion. However, this prediction was $3 billion short of the current figure, which accounts for the company’s continued dominance in the yogurt segment as well as its more recent diversification into other product categories such as ready-to-drink coffee and plant-based dairy offerings.

Unrelenting development and enlargement of its portfolio has led to Chobani raking in more than $1.5 billion in annual revenue, according to Bloomberg. However, a public offering would give the company access to even more capital and allow it to supercharge its efforts to innovate and grow its portfolio – the likely application for the funds raised by its IPO.

While it is unknown how much capital Chobani will raise for its public offering, what is known is the company’s determination to expand outside of yogurt. Last year, Peter McGuinness, president of Chobani told Food Dive that the New York-based enterprise plans to go beyond yogurt to boost its growth.

Nevertheless, yogurt will not be left behind. While plant-based alternatives have been a focus for the company over the last several quarters, in June, Chobani released a Greek yogurt without sugar in a bid to tap further into the better-for-you market that it has courted for years.

This IPO filing is the next stage of growth for Chobani, which rejected a bid in 2016 from beverage giant PepsiCo Inc to take a majority stake. At the time, the company said it wished to remain independent. However, going public will mean that Chobani is now beholden to stakeholders and a board that will help drive its growth in the future.

But by relinquishing some control, the yogurt maker will gain deeper pockets, a strategy that has proven successful for its peers such as Oatly. Oatly went public in May after raising $1.4 billion. Other food and beverage companies have also taken the plunge and gone public as the space becomes a hotbed for investors looking to diversify funds and take a bite out of the growing popularity for alternative and better-for-you food products.