Another company with ties to Fidelity National Financial Inc. is planning an initial public offering.
Dun & Bradstreet Holdings Inc. last week filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO.
The filing came 16 months after two companies spun off from Fidelity, Cannae Holdings Inc. and Black Knight Inc., led a consortium that bought the business data firm for $6.9 billion.
After the buyout in February 2019, Black Knight CEO Anthony Jabbour took on the additional role of CEO of Dun & Bradstreet.
Fidelity Chairman Bill Foley, who also is chairman of Cannae and Black Knight, became chairman of Dun & Bradstreet.
Investment company Cannae owns 24.3% of Dun & Bradstreet and mortgage technology company Black Knight owns 18.1%, according to recent SEC filings by those companies.
Cannae announced in January that Dun & Bradstreet filed a confidential registration statement for an IPO, but last week’s filing was its first public IPO statement.
Dun & Bradstreet’s IPO filing does not say how much stock will be sold or how much its current investor group will own once the company goes public.
Jacksonville-based Fidelity, under Foley’s leadership, has been known for its dealmaking over the years and Dun & Bradstreet’s filing cites Foley’s help in turning the business around after last year’s buyout.
“His proven track record is driven by his value creation playbook, which is highlighted by identifying cost savings, undertaking strategy shifts, eliminating siloed organizational structures and accelerating product expansion” it said.
It said Foley and the investor consortium brought in new management led by Jabbour which “immediately commenced a comprehensive transformation to improve and revitalize our business for long-term success.”
The new management has cut annual expenses by $206 million, the registration statement said.
New Jersey-based Dun & Bradstreet reported revenue of $395.3 million and adjusted earnings of $16.7 million in the first quarter this year, according to the filing.
Fidelity National Information Services Inc., or FIS, last week added Jeffrey Goldstein to its board of directors.
Goldstein is an economist who served as Under Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for Domestic Finance from 2009-11.
He currently is a senior adviser to venture capital firm Canapi Ventures.
Goldstein’s appointment as an FIS director increases the Jacksonville-based financial technology company’s board to 11 members
The Michaels Companies Inc.’s stock jumped 58.6% in one day last week after J.P. Morgan analyst Christopher Horvers upgraded his rating from “neutral” to “overweight.”
“Given increased optimism around the pace of economic recovery and a wide divide in valuation of haves (essential retailers) and have nots (value/just reopening/ levered names), we looked at our universe for upgrade opportunities and believe Michaels represents the best upside potential at current prices,” Horvers said in his research note.
The Texas-based arts and crafts retailer, which has a distribution center in Jacksonville, reported a sharp drop in first-quarter sales and a net loss, like every retailer dealing with COVID-19 store shutdowns.
Horvers sees potential as stores reopen.
“Michaels is the market leader in an enthusiast-based category with new management investing in e-commerce, price perception, and innovation to reverse share loss,” he said.
Michaels said about 1,000 of its stores were open as of June 4 and it expects “substantially all” of its 1,273 stores to be open by the end of this month.
The company’s stock rose $3.23 to $8.74 on June 8 after Horvers’ upgrade.
Greenlane Holdings Inc., a Boca Raton-based seller of cannabis accessories and vaporization products, said in its quarterly report it is closing its Jacksonville distribution center.
The company moved a distribution center from Boca Raton to Jacksonville in 2017.
Greenlane did not say how many people work at the Jacksonville center, which is closing this month, and its media contact did not respond to an email inquiry.
The company employed 350 people at the end of 2019, according to its annual report.
Greenlane said in a news release it is closing the Jacksonville facility as part of a plan to close five distribution centers and streamline operations.
Greenlane, which went public last year, had sales of $33.9 million in the first quarter and an adjusted net loss of $6.1 million.