Tepid Yeti IPO gives DeVos firm cooler-than-expected payout

Tepid Yeti IPO gives DeVos firm cooler-than-expected payout

 

GRAND RAPIDS — A lukewarm initial public stock offering by drinkware and cooler-maker Yeti Holdings Inc. spelled a smaller-than-expected payout for a prominent West Michigan family office. 

An affiliate of RDV Corp., the family office for the late Amway Corp. co-founder Richard DeVos, was among the stockholders who were scheduled to sell shares as part of the Oct. 25 IPO for Austin, Texas-based Yeti Holdings (NYSE: YETI), known for its vacuum-insulated stainless-steel drink tumblers and high-end rugged outdoor lifestyle products. 

The DeVos-owned YHI CG Group Investors LLC, an entity formed in 2012, initially held more than 3.17 million shares of common stock in Yeti — about 3.9 percent of the company’s shares before the offering, according to federal securities filings. 

The YHI CG Group affiliate was scheduled to sell off 750,239 shares of Yeti stock as part of the IPO, according to the Austin company’s registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Yeti priced its shares at $18 for the Oct. 25 offering — below the targeted range of $19 to $21 — decreasing the value of the RDV holdings by several million dollars. The offering brought in an estimated $288 million for Yeti, which has a market capitalization around $1.37 billion. 

Shares in Yeti fell to $17 on the first day of trading, and have since traded between $15.26 and $17.20, at the time this report went to press. 

A spokesperson for RDV confirmed the details in the Yeti filing were accurate, but declined further comment.

“As a matter of company policy, we do not provide insight regarding our investing strategy,” said RDV spokesperson Nick Wasmiller.

In a filing, Yeti said it would use $41.5 million of the IPO proceeds to repay outstanding debt. The company said in a filing that it had $435.4 million in long-term debt as of June 30 of this year.