Razor maker Harry's files for IPO, sources say

By Abigail Summerville and Echo Wang

(Reuters) - Harry's Inc, a maker of razors and other grooming and personal care products that was valued at $1.7 billion in a private fundraising round in 2021, has filed confidentially with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.

Harry's has tapped investment banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Barclays and Wells Fargo to prepare for the stock market debut in New York, the sources said.

Harry's, whose investors include Bain Capital and Macquarie Capital, is nearing $1 billion in annual revenue and is profitable, the sources added, requesting anonymity because the matter is confidential.

Spokespeople for Harry's and the banks declined to comment.

Headquartered in New York, Harry's was launched in 2013 by co-founders Andy Katz-Mayfield and Jeff Raider. The company started out as a direct-to-consumer men's grooming brand but has since expanded into brick-and-mortar retailers and into hair care, body care and other products.

Besides the original Harry's brand, it owns deodorant brands Lumē and Mando, women's shaving brand Flamingo and cat care brand Cat Person. The company has its own factory in Germany and an in-house brand incubator called Harry's Labs.

In 2020, U.S. antitrust regulators thwarted an attempt by Edgewell Personal Care to acquire Harry's for $1.37 billion. The Federal Trade Commission objected to the deal, arguing it would remove badly needed competition in the shaving industry, which was dominated by Edgewell's Schick brands and Procter & Gamble's Gillette brands.

However, another direct-to-consumer men's grooming upstart, Dollar Shave Club, changed hands last year, when Unilever sold it to private equity firm Nexus Capital for an undisclosed amount.

(Reporting by Abigail Summerville and Echo Wang in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)