Report: Restoration Hardware planning to go public in 2011

New York City Restoration Hardware plans to raise as much as $300 million in an initial public offering that would allow its private equity backers to cash in on part of their investment in the U.S. furniture retailer, according to Reuters.

The IPO is planned for the first half of next year, and will be lead by Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs, the report said, and is expected to raise between $100 million and $300 million and give Restoration Hardware a market capitalization of around $1 billion, the source said.

Restoration Hardware's plans for an IPO are still preliminary and could change, the report noted.

Private equity firms Catterton Partners and Tower ThreePartners LLC, along with Restoration Hardware CEO Gary Friedman, bought a controlling equity stake in the retail company in June 2008.