Dutch Bros Coffee raised nearly half a billion on IPO
Dutch Bros Coffee outperformed on New York
Stock Exchange on Wednesday 15, in an IPO that raised nearly $500 million and
turned the founder and CEO Travis Boersma into a billionaire. The week was
dominated by the public listings of sports and biotech companies. However,
Dutch Bros Coffee, Oregon based chain surprised everyone for its outstanding
power of the bull on the market. Established in 1992, Dutch Bros was initially
founded by two brothers who transformed the dairy firm into a coffee company
with a single espresso machine in a small city, Grants Pass. Today the company
has over 470 outlets with 17,000 employees throughout the US in 11 states.
"This is an incredible day for Dutch Bros, a total mind
blow,” said Travis Boersma “When my brother and I started this company almost
30 years ago, we never imagined we'd be here today. Right now, I'm focused on
providing more opportunities for our people—that's the heart of why we went
public."
The chartbuster initial public offering becomes a record in the
history of state of Oregon with $484 million raised on a high buying frenzy on
the trading floor. According to the past records, Nike and Columbia Sportswear
both from Oregon were managed to raise lesser $146 million and $169 million
adjusted for inflation in 1980 and 1998
respectively.
Shares in Dutch Bros closed at $36.92 on its first day of
trading, 61% higher than the opening price of $23. Travis Boersma controls 41%
of the new public company worth $2.5billion. He will retain 74% of the firm’s
voting shares due to several “anti-takeover” provisions and a multi-tiered
share structure. The coffee company doesn’t franchise its brands anymore in
order to keep the unique retail structure of each outlets. However, previous
held 56% of the branches are still under franchisees’ management.
It is in mission to reach 4,000 locations across the U.S to
become globally one to the top coffee companies. Since all of its stores are
drive-thru, Dutch Bros was not quite affected by the Covid 19 during the
lockdown as people intended to stay at home with their takeaway favorite
coffee.