Franchise giant Realogy Corp., which operates such real estate brands as Century 21 and Coldwell Banker, plans to go public soon, according to forms filed under its parent company, Domus Holdings Corp. The filing comes almost six years after the company was taken private by a hedge fund in 2006.
The company is planning to raise up to $1 billion in new stock shares. Domus has not yet released the price or quantity of shares it plans to put up in its initial public offering, according to the Associated Press.
Realogy is an industry giant that also franchises real estate brands like ERA, Sotheby’s International Realty, and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. It boasts about 13,800 offices worldwide.
Domus hopes that the net proceeds from the IPO—as well as a plan to move about $2 billion in convertible notes into common stocks—will help the company trim at least $3 billion off its debt, which as of March totaled $7.23 billion. Also, the company points to the recovery taking hold in the housing market as a reason for optimism in the coming months.
“We believe that our business is well positioned to benefit from a sustained recovery in the residential real estate market as a result of our scale, market leadership, breadth of complementary service offerings and operations, and the substantial brand equity of our portfolio of brokerage brands,” Domus said in a regulatory filing.