PetSmart / Chewy

active

Retail — BC Partners

Deal Terms

Entry Year2015

Entry EV$8.7B

Entry Multiple9x

Leverage6.5x

Debt Amount$5.7B

Risk Metrics

LTV (est.)66%

Debt / EV0.66x

Notes

$8.7B LBO — largest retail PE deal at the time. $5.7B debt. Bought Chewy.com for $3.35B (2017). Chewy IPO'd at $8.7B (2019), generating huge paper gains. But PetSmart's core retail biz still groans under debt. BC Partners distributed Chewy shares to pay itself back.

Sponsor

Partners Group$185B AUM

Hot Potato History

1987→Public Market (PetSmart)

2015→BC Partners($8.7B)

BC Partners used PetSmart-owned Chewy to IPO at $8.8B (2019). PetSmart debt remained. PetSmart itself still private and stressed.