Authentic Fitness Plans Common Stock Offering

A Van Nuys company that makes Speedo swimwear and White Stag active wear plans to go public with the sale of 3 million shares of common stock. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Authentic Fitness Corp. said it expects net proceeds of about $40.5 million from the sale of the shares at $14 to $16 each.

Authentic Fitness is currently owned by an investor group led by Linda Wachner, the chairman of Warnaco Inc., a $560-million lingerie company. The group bought Authentic Fitness from Warnaco in 1990 for $85 million.

The company said in the SEC filing that it plans to use the money raised in the stock sale to repay debt. In the nine months that ended March 29, Authentic Fitness had a profit of $2.56 million on $71.1 million in revenue.

Morgan Stanley & Co. is the lead underwriter for the offering.