Grocery giant Albertsons is reportedly preparing to go public after failing multiple times in the past

• Albertsons is preparing to go public again, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The company will decide in coming weeks whether or not it will proceed.
• An IPO could value the grocer around $19 billion, The Journal reported. It would also provide private-equity investor Cerberus Capital Management with an exit strategy.
• The grocery chain attempted to IPO in 2015, but pulled the offering amid a lackluster market for retail stocks. It also tried to go public through a deal with Rite Aid in 2018. The deal was abandoned due to investor pushback.
• Read more on Business Insider.

Albertsons, the grocery giant that also owns Safeway and Jewel-Osco, is preparing to go public again, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday citing people familiar with the matter.

The company has been updating initial-public-offering documents that have been confidentially filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and will decide in coming weeks whether or not it will proceed with an IPO that could value it around $19 billion, The Journal reported.

An IPO would help private-equity investor Cerberus Capital Management LP exit its 15-year-long investment in Albertsons, The Journal reported. The firm is rethinking an IPO given the grocery chain's improved performance as well as a strong market and positive economic indicators, the Journal reported.

Albertsons has attempted to go public numerous times, according to The Journal. In 2018, the grocer struck a deal to go public by acquiring much of the drugstore chain Rite Aid in a $24 billion merger, according to The Journal. The deal didn't go through because of investor pushback, The Journal reported.

In 2015, Cerberus tried to take the company public through an IPO looking to raise as much as $1.6 billion, The Journal reported, but eventually the offering was pulled amid a lackluster market for retail stocks in late 2015.

Since 2015, Albertsons has substantially reduced its debt, according to The Journal. At the end of November the company had about $8.34 billion in net debt excluding operating leases, down from $10.52 billion the year prior, The Journal reported.