Sprouts Farmers Market sells stockholder's shares

Phoenix grocer Sprouts Farmers Market is launching a public offering of 15 million shares of its common stock that was held by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC.

The company will not issue shares in the offering and will not receive any proceeds from the sale of Apollo's shares.

As of Tuesday, prices per share were $29.765, down 5 percent from Monday's announcement.

Sprouts, which sells natural and organic produce and meats, has been on an aggressive expansion plan, which includes opening more than 20 stores by the end of 2014. The company's sales were $766 million for the third quarter of 2014, up 21 percent from the same period a year ago.

Sprouts went public with an initial offering more than a year ago and has opened stores this year in Georgia, Oklahoma, Nevada, Kansas and California. The company has more than 190 stores in 10 states and employs more than 17,000 team members.

Reporter can be reached at angelique.soenarie@arizonarepublic.com