PowerBar maker Bellring Brands (BRBR) files for IPO

• BellRing primarily sells ready-to-drink protein shakes (71% of FY18 sales), powders (14%), and nutrition bars (11%). The company's core brands are Premier Protein (77%), Dymatize (13%), and PowerBar (7%).
• Parent Post Holdings plans to sell 20% of its stake on the IPO.
• Ticker: BRBR

Bellring Brands Inc. (BRBR), a spinoff of Post Holdings (POST), has filed for an initial public offering, according to a Friday filing. The maker of PowerBar seeks to sell $100 million worth of shares, although that's often a placeholder used to calculate filing fees.

Cereal maker Post will own a majority of the combined voting power of the new company and "will have the ability to control the direction of our business," Bellring said in its prospectus. Bellring listed net earnings of $40.3 million in the fiscal third quarter, compared with net earnings of $29 million in the year-ago period. Sales grew to $828 million in fiscal 2018 from $575 million in fiscal 2016, Bellring said. In the fiscal third quarter of 2019, sales rose to $238 million, from $216 million in the fiscal third quarter of 2018. Underwriters include Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and J.P. Morgan. Bellring filed to trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BRBR. Last month, Hershey (HSY) said it had agreed to buy nutrition-bar maker One Brands LLC for $400 million, and Simply Good Food (SMPL) announced its intention to buy Quest Nutrition LLC, another maker of protein bars, among other items, for $1 billion.