Burkle’s Americold Shelves Biggest U.S. IPO of 2010

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Ron Burkle’s Americold Realty Trust postponed the largest U.S. initial public offering of 2010, while Hong Kong’s Swire Properties Ltd. shelved its sale as the biggest stock-market slump in a year roiled IPOs.

Americold, the Atlanta-based warehouse operator owned by Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos., pulled its $660 million sale after slashing the midpoint price by 33 percent yesterday, according to Bloomberg data and a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Yucaipa initially tried to sell Americold at double the value of property funds worldwide, while giving the buyout firm the option to buy shares at a 35 percent discount. “The valuation of the deal was a little rich,” said Walter Todd, who helps manage about $800 million at Greenwood Capital in Greenwood, South Carolina.

At the original IPO midpoint price of $15, Americold estimated that it would have $6.46 of tangible book value per share, the company’s filing showed. That meant buyers would have been paying 2.32 times more than the value of the REIT’s net assets, excluding those that can’t be sold in liquidation.

&#8226 Read the full Bloomberg News story.

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