The preliminary IPO calendar for this week lists eight deals that are expected to raise $815 million. Should all eight get out the door, next week’s headlines will read:
“2007’s First-Quarter IPO Volume Best in Seven Years”
That’s right — the best in seven years. The first quarter of 2000 was busier. Bankers priced 139 IPOs that raised $28 billion, according to available reports.
Should the IPO gods work their magic this week, 2007’s first quarter will have produced 59 deals that raised $10.1 billion. That will edge ahead of 2006’s first quarter, which produced 55 IPOs that raised $9.7 billion.
Now the next question is: What’s the busiest Q1 on record?
The answer, and it’s surprising, was Q1 of 1992, when bankers priced 171 IPOs that raised $11.1 billion.
Next: The second-busiest Q1 is another surprise. That was 1996’s Q1, when bankers priced 170 IPOs that raised $8.3 billion.
{mosgoogle}Walk on the Sunny Side
But there was more last week to indicate that the IPO market is back in town –- in a way that gets noticed.
True, only three deals got out the door. But each closed its opening day on the sunny side of the Street.
CastlePoint Holdings (NASDAQ: CPHL), a Bermuda-based insurance company priced 7.68 million shares at $14.50 each on Thursday evening. On Friday, it closed its opening day at $16.15, UP $1.65 per share, or 11.4 percent from its initial offering price.
Cheniere Energy Partners L.P. (NYSE: CQP), a Houston-based oil and gas limited partnership, priced 13.5 million common units at $21 each on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, it closed its opening day at $21.71, UP 71 cents, or 3.4 percent from its initial offering price.
Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU), a California-based provider of games for mobile phones, priced 7.3 million shares at $11.50 each on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, it closed its opening day at $12.29, UP 79 cents, or 6.9 percent from its initial offering price.
A New Take on Black
There’s more.
Eight companies filed plans to go public. They were looking to raise $5.1 billion. The big buzz was The Blackstone Group. It filed to raise $4 billion.
What we are staring to see is the emergence of an industrial group. It is the specialty financial services firms. Consider the last few to go public.
FCStone Group (NASDAQ: FCSX), a West Des Moines, Iowa-based commodity risk management company, priced 5.1 million shares at $24 each on March 15, 2007. On March 23, the IPO closed at $34.63, UP 44.3 percent from its initial offering price.
Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG), a New York City-based hedge fund, priced 34.3 million shares at $18.50 each on Feb. 8, 2007. On March 23, the IPO closed at $28.74, UP 55.4 percent from its initial offering price.
NYMEX Holdings (NYSE: NMX), based in New York City, is a commodity-based futures exchange and clearinghouse whose main subsidiary is the New York Mercantile Exchange, the home of crude oil and precious metals futures trading. NYMEX Holdings priced 6.5 million shares at $59 each on Nov. 16, 2006. On March 23, the IPO closed at $135.45, UP 129.6 percent from its initial offering price.
And the message?
If you listen hard, you might just hear papers rustling as the money bags crowd gets ready to make a beeline to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window.
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