Chobani, best known for its Organic Greek yogurts, could go public this year and may plan an initial public offering before the end of 2021. The Wall Street Journal had reported that the food company is looking for a valuation that could be between seven to ten billion dollars.
The food company was founded in 2005 and popularized Greek yogurt. The dairy food firm has expanded its range of products in the last couple of years to add oat milks and probiotic milks which are an extension of its premier product yogurt.
It has also diversified to add coffee creamers and ready to drink coffee. The decline in sales in its best known product – Greek yogurt led to the diversification of its food range. It has also added new employees at various levels to help in its expansion plans.
Chobani, one of the pioneers in introducing Greek yogurt, could go head-to-head against Oatley, a Swedish company famous for making oat milk. The Swedish company has also been considering an IPO later this year. Now that Chobani is making inroads in the oat milk market, it would be interesting to see how events unfold in the market when these two major food producers introduce their IPOs later this year.
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Chobani founder and CEO Hamdi Ulukaya stated that they would look into all options as they create a food company of the future. They would carefully fuel their ambitious plans with special reference to oat milk and plant-based products.
The chief executive also added that although a public offering is an exciting direction to move forward, whether public or not, the company is in a process of disruption and will continue to improve things.
TPG Capital was a pioneer private equity investor in Chobani in 2014. It helped the company expand and popularize Greek yogurt across the U.S. In 2018 TPG Capital exited from the food company. It was replaced by Hoopp Capital Partners, who took a minority stake ownership in the company. Hoopp Capital Partners is the private investment part of the Ontario Pension Plan.
There was no response from Chobani when CNBC asked for a comment.
