Pet superstore operator Petco Holdings officially withdraws IPO after $4.6B acquisition

Petco Holdings, which operates more than 1,400 pet superstores in the US, Mexico and Puerto Rico, officially withdrew its plans for an initial public offering on Tuesday; it originally filed in August 2015. 

In a PE-to-PE deal, CVC Capital Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) acquired Petco for $4.6 billion in cash and debt from a group of investors led by TPG and Leonard Green & Partners. 

Petco's 1,400+ pet superstores include 120 'Unleashed by Petco' smaller neighborhood locations and 10 Pooch Hotel locations. It also operates pet prescription services and its e-commerce site petco.com. Revenues in 2014 of $4.0 billion came from physical store locations (91% of 2014 sales) and e-commerce (9%), broken down into three main sales categories: supplies (54% of 2014 sales), food and consumables (38%) and services and other (8%). 
 
The San Diego, CA-based company was founded in 1965 and booked $4.2 billion in sales for the 12 months ended July 31, 2015. It had not chosen an exchange or ticker. Goldman Sachs, BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan were set to be the joint bookrunners on the deal.