Polo Ralph Lauren Plans Public Offering

Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. plans to hold an initial public offering that would raise as much as $600 million. The New York-based apparel and fragrance company filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell an undetermined number of Class A common shares. The Lauren family will maintain control of the company through their ownership of Class B shares, which carry 10 votes for each vote of Class A and Class C shares, according to the S-1 registration statement. The filing didn’t specify the expected price of any class of shares. The $600-million figure was the company’s estimate in computing its registration fee with the SEC. The company plans to use the proceeds from the sale to pay a special dividend to members of the partnerships that operated the business before its reorganization into Polo Ralph Lauren. The company also plans to repay debt owed to Ralph Lauren and lead underwriter Goldman Sachs, the filing said.