Dollar General files for $750 million IPO

New York City Dollar General Corp. filed for an initial public offering late Thursday. The filing came two years after the discounter chain was acquired in a private-equity deal led by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dollar General did not detail the number of shares or amount of money it hopes to raise through the offering, though it set $750 million as the ceiling. If it reaches that amount, the deal would be one of the bigger IPO’s of the year. The retailer intends to use proceeds from the deal primarily to pay down debt.

Dollar General, which operates nearly 8,600 stores in 35 states, is one of the few retail chains that has prospered during the recession. It reported an $83 million profit for the quarter ended May 1, up from the $5.9 million it earned last year.

The discounter is also one of the few chains still expanding. It plans to open approximately 500 new stores in 2009 and to relocate or remodel approximately 450 stores.

Many analysts are predicting a flurry of private equity-owned companies again regaining stock listings as the firms seek to cash out by taking their acquisitions public again.