ROSEMONT, IL - Executing a successful IPO can be tricky business. Delivering a polished and attractive corporate story can take months of planning and strategizing. The process requires finesse and expertise, and an Investor Relations Officer (IRO) that can balance big picture thinking and meticulous attention to detail.  

Melissa Napier, SVP of Investor Relations for US Foods is no stranger to this process. In May of this year, US Foods’ raised $1.02 billion, in the second-largest IPO of the year-to-date, with shares priced at $23, on the upper end of the company’s target price range. In a recent interview with Q4 Inc., Napier gave up the goods on the company’s IPO.

What advice did Napier have for those entering the process?

"First, start early. A successful IPO hinges on a good company story, regulatory clearance, and the right market conditions," Napier told the source. "You need to be prepared to move as soon as all three conditions align. You also need to refine your investment thesis, and it can take time to align on the exact words and phrases to make your story understood most effectively."

Napier also touched on the importance of staying organized, relying on the support of your team to keep things moving, and building in prep time and time for management tasks.

Napier added in her Q4 that the IPO roadshow should by no means be neglected, and company’s looking to save time and effectively court buyers should consider pre-recording their presentation: "We chose to record the presentation at our offices, in our kitchen, which made the presentation very personal to US Foods and also showcased our management team in a more professional light."

The process was not without challenges, though. When asked what the biggest challenge the company faced during the IPO process, Napier responded:

"Preparing for the IPO was a time intensive process… Drafting the S-1 is very important because the S-1 needs to tell your company story in a pretty clear and compelling manner, while also containing the appropriate legal and accounting language… All material in the S-1 needed to be sourced, auditable, and documented; we did this via a virtual data room."

Napier also described the roadshow as an "intense process"; the US Foods team visited eight cities in eight days and took conference calls between meetings as they worked to court potential buyers.

Ultimately, the IPO process proved to be an enormously rewarding one for Napier and US Foods.

"When we rang the opening bell at the NYSE on our first day of trading–that was a very special experience," Napier recalled. "We were fortunate that things went pretty smoothly for us. Market conditions cooperated, we were oversubscribed for the deal book, and we priced at the high end of our range."

The interview in its entirety is available here.

We had previously reported on US Foods IPO this May. For more on the investor’s side of the produce industry, check in with AndNowUKnow. 

US Foods