McDonald’s Planning IPO for Chipotle Unit

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., the McDonald’s-owned chain best known for its hefty burritos, filed paperwork Tuesday for an initial public offering of $100 million worth of stock.

The company did not disclose in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing how many shares it planned to offer, an estimated price range or the size of McDonald’s stake after the IPO.

McDonald’s Ventures and Chipotle are selling all the stock in the IPO. McDonald’s Corp., based in Oak Brook, Ill., owns about 92% of Chipotle.

Denver-based Chipotle will apply to trade shares under the symbol CMG on the New York Stock Exchange, the filing stated. Investment banks Morgan Stanley and SG Cowen & Co. are managing the IPO.

Proceeds will be used to pay down a $30-million revolving credit line with McDonald’s, and for capital expenditures and general corporate purposes, Chipotle said. A company spokesman declined to comment further.

The filing came about nine months after McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast-food company, said it was contemplating spinning off Chipotle and putting the proceeds into its core brand restaurants. McDonald’s had said it expected to launch the IPO in the first quarter of 2006.

McDonald’s Chief Executive Jim Skinner said the company was selling off “just a small percentage” of Chipotle.

“This is just the first step in terms of maximizing the value of that brand as we focus our efforts on brand McDonald’s,” he said in an interview.

Shares of McDonald’s fell 12 cents Tuesday to $33.