Whitegoods retailer The Good Guys is pushing ahead with plans for a stock market float even as it leaves the door open for a takeover bid by JB Hi-Fi.
The Good Guys has appointed Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs and UBS as joint lead managers of an initial public offering, with Helfen Corporate Advisory as the independent financial adviser overseeing it.
It is understood an IPO on the Australian Securities Exchange would raise between $800 million and $900 million.
The Melbourne-based company, which employs about 4,000 people and generates about $2 billion a year in sales from its 100 stores across Australia, said on Monday it was considering all its options.
"The Good Guys will also consider any alternative ownership proposals that emerge," the company said in a statement.
The company is preparing the ground by buying back more than 50 joint-venture stores.
It said the transition to 100 per cent ownership of its store network should be completed by the end of the current financial year.
The move comes less than a week after revelations the The Good Guys has been in takeover talks with home entertainment retailer JB Hi-Fi.
JB Hi-Fi confirmed talks with The Good Guys amid speculation its $800 million offer fell short of The Good Guys' $1.5 billion valuation.
JB said the discussions were only preliminary and exploratory in nature.
Newspaper reports have claimed Steinhoff International, which owns furniture retailer Freedom; Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey; and private equity firms TPG, Bain Capital and KKR are also interested in The Good Guys.
The Good Guys - which opened in 1952 as Ian Muir's Radio and Electrical Centre and is still majority owned by the Muir family - first announced in April that it would explore an IPO and listing on the Australian share market.
Analysts say JB Hi-Fi has the capacity to buy The Good Guys but stiff competition for control could prompt the company to tap investors.
JB Hi-Fi shares closed 55 cents, or 2.3 per cent, lower at $23.32.
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