Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. | nashvillepost.com

A Dollar General IPO update

The Goodlettsville-based discount retailer recently filed an amended S-1 that updates some of the info associated with its pending public offering. Among the new details: • The company has applied to have its shares trade under the same 'DG' ticker symbol it had before going private in 2007. • The company last month paid its shareholders — primarily private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts — a special dividend of $239 million. That's about 20 percent higher than its earlier estimate. • Prior to the IPO, the company will organize a reverse stock split that will reduce the number of shares outstanding and increase their initial offering price. That price has not yet been determined, but a January analysis connected to the issuance of options put the shares' fair market value at $5.50.

Oct 5, 2009 7:47 AM

One of the main reasons Dollar General is going public again

There is plenty of talk that Dollar General owner Kohlberg Kravis Roberts is taking the discounter public in part because it needs to test the waters for its own IPO. But based on Dollar Tree's strong numbers reported Wednesday, it's clear that the private-equity titan likely couldn't pick a better time to float a value-oriented retailer.

Aug 27, 2009 7:29 AM

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Dollar General sets $750M IPO

Discount retailer plans to return to stock market after going private in 2007 buyout

Aug 20, 2009 11:19 PM

Report: Dollar General prepping IPO

Discount retailer has been on a tear during recession

Jul 29, 2009 10:57 AM

Forbes joins HCA board, company follows through on Q1 prediction

After previewing strong results a couple of weeks ago, the company delivers

Apr 27, 2009 1:00 PM

Grigg could face eight years for Ponzi scheme

Investment adviser from Franklin admits to $4.9 million fraud that included claims of TARP involvement

Apr 23, 2009 1:44 AM

KKR's trash-bag talk about Dollar General operations

The Wall Street Journal carries a rare item of good news today from the business world, and it involves Goodlettsville-based Dollar General Corp. — but it may not make very comfortable reading for former executives who ran Dollar General as a publicly traded company before it went private in July 2007:

Here's how fortunes in the leveraged buyout world have changed: The best-performing deal of billionaire Henry Kravis's empire is a deep-discount retailer selling $1 dog treats and $2 bleach to lower-income shoppers. Dollar General Corp., owned by private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is expected to report strong fiscal 2008 results Tuesday. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA — a common measure of cash flow — rose about 35% for the 12 months ended Jan. 31, according to people familiar with the company.

(Those earnings are now out, and they're as strong as advertised. Here's Geert's take on them.) Further down in the WSJ story, in the part visible only to subscribers, are a few key figures underlying Dollar General's financial improvement. Economic conditions are not the only factor in play, the Journal suggests:

KKR credits much of Dollar General's success to new managers led by Chief Executive Rick Dreiling, who joined the company in January 2008.... Mr. Dreiling and his team have boosted earnings by increasing private-label goods and adding other higher-margin products. They eliminated duplicative and unprofitable items, such as eight types of coffee creamer and 12 varieties of trash bags.

Dreiling's team was able to replace those products with new ones that carried margins about 5 percent higher than before. And they have brought shrinkage (inventory lost, incorrectly priced or stolen) down by some 20 percent, saving $55 million in the past year.

Mar 24, 2009 12:19 PM

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HCA director resigns

The hospital giant doesn't say why 34-year-old Peter Stavros is leaving after almost three years, but already has a replacement at the ready in the form of a KKR colleague and former Quest Diagnostics chairman.

Feb 11, 2009 11:24 PM

Musing on a Dollar General IPO

The New York Times' BreakingViews column takes a look at what private equity titan Kohlberg Kravis Roberts might do with the Goodlettsville-based retailer it bought two years ago for some $7 billion.

On the 7.5 valuation multiple that Goldman Sachs projects for the publicly traded rival Dollar Tree at the end of 2009, Dollar General would be worth about $7.5 billion. Subtract the company’s current debt of $4.2 billion, and K.K.R.’s equity stake would be worth a third more than it paid.

Jan 13, 2009 12:16 PM