Yogurt Maker Chobani Pulls IPO in Deepening Listing Drought

(Bloomberg) — Chobani Inc., the food company best known for its Greek yogurt, withdrew its document for a planned initial public offering, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

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“The company has determined not to pursue, at this time, the contemplated initial public offering,” it said in Friday’s filing without stating the reason for the withdrawal.

Chobani, based in New Berlin, New York, submitted its listing document to the regulators in November, before this year’s equity market rout that has halted almost all new listings.

Only two companies — excluding blank-check firms — have raised more than $500 million in US IPOs this year: private equity firm TPG Inc. in January and contact lens maker Bausch + Lomb Corp. in May. At this point in 2021, there were 61 IPOs of $500 million or more, the largest of them being e-commerce company Coupang Inc.’s $4.55 billion offering, according to data provided by Bloomberg.

Overall, 503 companies raised a record total of almost $173 billion on US exchanges last year, the data show. That flood has all but evaporated this year amid worries over market volatility and inflation, with 98 listings fetching a combined total of only $5.8 billion.

Bloomberg News reported in March that Chobani had delayed its IPO due to market conditions.

Several senior Chobani executives have departed in recent months. The company is searching for a chief financial officer after Jody Macedonio left in June. Chief Operating Officer Peter McGuinness and Chief Strategy Officer Michelle Brooks also left the company.

In its filing last year, Chobani disclosed that it had a net loss of $24 million on net sales of $1.2 billion for the nine months ended Sept. 26. That compared with a loss of $21 million on $1.06 billion in sales during the same period in 2020.

Chief Executive Officer Hamdi Ulukaya, who came to the U.S. from Turkey in 1994, founded Chobani in 2005.

Chobani had engaged Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. to lead the transaction.

(Updates with IPO market details in fifth paragraph.)