couple of big institutional buyers, just back from their July 4th holiday break, are said to have stepped up to the plate and asked for stock, while demand is pouring in from overseas.
MF Global will be the new name of Man Financial, the powerhouse in the derivatives world whose history dates back to the sugar trading days of 1783.
MF Global looks to price 97.4 million shares at $36 to $39 each to raise $3.7 billion on Wednesday evening, July 18. The company is huge. It reported fiscal 2007 revenues of $5.7 billion and net income of $188 million. (To get an idea of Man Financial’s strength, it picked up some of the pieces –- or least, the customer accounts and certain other assets – of Refco a month after its October 2005 collapse due to accounting problems and bad debts. At one time, Refco had been the biggest broker on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.)
But that’s not all, folks!
A $5 Billion Week
There are 10 IPOs on this week’s calendar. Collectively, these 10 deals aim to raise $5.1 billion. Even by Wall Street’s standards, that’s serious money. Granted, more than 60 percent of that total will come from the high-flying MF Global IPO – if all goes as planned.
To put this week in perspective, let’s flip the calendar back to 2003 for a moment. During the first six months of 2003, the IPO calendar produced just 10 deals. That’s right -– a total of 10 IPOs were priced during the first six months of 2003.
Now back to the coming attractions. The MF Global deal isn’t the only one that will draw attention from the madding crowd of IPO buyers this week. This year, technology-related IPOs have been “in” in a big way and they are expected to dominate this week’s calendar.
Here are a few other highlights from the new-issues calendar for the week of July 16:
Airvana (Nasdaq: AIRV proposed) is a Massachusetts-based provider of network infrastructure products used by wireless carriers to provide mobile broadband services.
The buzz is that Airvana is a “pure play” in mobile broadband infrastructure. In addition, the company has significant revenues and is profitable. For the year ended Dec. 31, 2006, Airvana reported net income of $74 million on revenues $170 million.
Dice Holdings (NYSE: DHX proposed) is a New York City-based operator of career Web sites for technology and financial services professionals. Each Web site is tailored to the needs of professionals where they can manage their careers and for employers to find qualified candidates. Among the company’s Web sites are Dice.com, eFinancialCareers.com, JobsintheMoney.com and others.
The buzz is that Dice’s magic is working. For the first quarter of 2007, Dice reported net income of $3 million, up from $473,000 for the same period a year ago, and revenues of $30.5 million, up from $16.1 million for the same period a year ago. The deal is reportedly well oversubscribed (at current levels). It’s also a favorite of the financial press and many IPO professionals.
SemGroup Energy Partners, L.P. (Nasdaq: SGLP proposed) is a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based limited partnership recently formed to own, operate and develop a diversified portfolio of midstream energy assets.
The buzz about SemGroup stems from its proposed cash distribution of $1.25 per common unit to yield 6.25 percent. People are looking back to the June 26 offering of Spectra Energy Partners (NYSE: SEP), a natural gas limited partnership. Spectra’s proposed cash distribution was $1.20 per common unit to yield 6 percent. The deal was priced at $22 and closed at $29.25 on Friday, July 13, UP 33 percent from its initial offering price.
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