A trip down memory lane, when Credit Suisse underwrote one of the more unlikely IPOs of the decade.

When Keebler Foods — the cookie-and-cracker company personified by pint-sized creatures who live in a hollow tree — went public in January 1998, it wasn’t elfin magic that whetted the market’s appetite. The $321 million initial offering had all the right ingredients: one venerable brand name, two food-industry veterans and a sweet turnaround story.

No one would have predicted Keebler’s success two years earlier when the Elmhurst, Illinois–based company, a subsidiary of the U.K.’s United Biscuits, ended 1995 with a reported $138 million in losses. But Invus Group, the New York–based investment arm of Artal Luxembourg, smelled the possibility of something better baking. With industry veterans Sam Reed and David Vermylen leading the charge, Invus partnered with Georgia-based baking concern Flowers Industries in a $487 million leveraged buyout of the struggling business in January 1996.

Once Keebler was in private hands, Reed and Vermelyn began an overhaul, replacing senior management, acquiring Sunshine Biscuits and, in a stroke of marketing genius, reintroducing Ernie Keebler as the brand’s chief “spokes-elf.” The revamp helped solidify Keebler’s status as the U.S.’s second-largest cookie maker and lay the groundwork for a strong public debut. In January 1998, despite a skittish IPO climate, investors gobbled up Keebler stock in a strong sign of confidence in management. The company sold just over 13 million shares at $24 each.

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