Dave & Buster's Shelves Its IPO Ambition

Dave & Buster's Entertainment, Inc. is not going to be coming public after all. The company issued a press release saying that it has chosen not to proceed with its planned initial public offering at this time.

The video game, entertainment, and dining destination said that its decision to withdraw its IPO ambitions on "continued volatility for new issuers in the equity market." Dave & Buster's also said that it intends to withdraw its S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. While that usually happens, that signals that this is not a delay of its IPO. This is an outright cancellation of plans to become public, at least for the time being.

The company further claimed that it has received significant interest from potential investors, but said that the current market conditions are not optimal for an IPO at this time.

What Dave & Buster's has working against it is that it was once public and was taken private. Wall Street and Main Street investors are not as eager to gobble up companies that private equity companies have taken private and now want to resell while the capital gains taxes are so low.

We listed eight summer IPOs up 50% or more that came public since the summer. That goodwill is just not carrying strength for many companies now.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, IPOs & Secondaries