The IPO Buzz: Stars in the Spring IPO Skies

Let’s take a look at last week’s alignment of the stars.

 

Splunk (SPLK), a San Francisco-based software provider for data analysis, priced its IPO at $17 per share on Wednesday evening. That was more than twice the $8-per-share low end of its original filing range. Splunk’s IPO opened on Thursday at $32 and closed its first day of trading at $35.48 — UP 108.7 per cent from its initial offering price. That’s a moonshot.

 

Infoblox (BLOX), a Santa Clara, California-based cloud-computing company, priced its IPO at $16 per share on Wednesday evening. That was well above $12-per-share, the low end of its original filing range. The Infoblox IPO opened on Thursday at $22.50 and closed its opening day at $21.30, UP 33.1 per cent from its initial offering price.

 

The financial media has been reporting that Facebook plans to price its IPO as early as May 17, citing unnamed sources “who are close to the situation.” That’s nice, but it’s still rumor – a word that would never get past any banker’s compliance department.

 

Here’s what we know: On Feb. 1, 2012, Facebook filed for an IPO to raise $5 billion. Since then, three amendments have been filed, with the last one on March 27, about three weeks ago – still no pricing terms – and no pricing date.

 

Rest assured, when Facebook files the number of shares it plans to offer and the price range, every media outlet ranging from the major wire services to Li’l Abner’s fictional Dogpatch Gazette will be reporting the news and offering their own “analysis.”

 

Turning the page to this week – the last week of April – bankers have six new faces on the IPO calendar. There are also two carryovers from previous weeks.

 

And guess what? Two of this week’s new faces are technology companies. They are Acquity Group Limited and Envivio.

 

Acquity Group plans to price 5.6 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) at $8 to $10 each on Thursday evening. The IPO is expected to start trading on Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed symbol “AQ.” The joint-lead managers are Citigroup and Oppenheimer.

 

Headquartered in Hong Kong, Acquity is a digital marketing company providing e-commerce services to more than 500 companies, including Allstate Insurance, Discover Card’s mobile business, and Shimano, Tommy Bahama and W.W. Grainger. Formed in 2001, Acquity has about 458 employees.

 

The company plans to offer about 4.8 million ADS and selling shareholders plan to offer about 800,000 ADS. The company expects to have about 23.5 million shares outstanding after the offering.

 

Acquity’s competitors are components of the Dow Jones U.S. Software & Computer Services Index. The Index has been an outperformer this year. On Friday, April 20, the software & computer services index was up 12.8 percent for the year versus a 9.62 percent gain by the S&P 500 Index.

 

Envivio plans to price 7.8 million shares at $10 to $12 each on Tuesday evening. The IPO is expected to start trading on Wednesday morning on the NASDAQ Global Market under the proposed symbol “ENVI.” The joint-lead managers are Goldman, Sachs, Deutsche Bank Securities and Stifel Nicolaus Weisel.

 

Based in South San Francisco, Envivio is a provider of IP video processing and distribution solutions. The company’s solutions enable service and content providers to deliver linear broadcast and on-demand video services to their customers via multiple screens, such as tablets, smartphones, netbooks, laptops, PCs and TVs. The company has sold its solutions to more than 300 end-customers in over 50 countries. Formed in 2000, Envivio has about 146 employees.

 

Envivio plans to offer about 6.5 million shares and selling shareholders plan to offer about 1.3 million shares. The company expects to have about 26.7 million shares outstanding after the offering.

 

Envivio’s competitors are components of the Dow Jones U.S. Telecommunications Equipment. The Index has been a slight underperformer this year. On Friday, April 20, the telecommunications equipment index was up 9.34 percent for the year versus a 9.62 percent gain by the S&P 500 Index.

 

This week’s IPO calendar rounds out with: Ares Commercial Real Estate (ACRE – proposed), a Chicago-based real estate investment trust, or REIT; China Auto Rental (CAHR – proposed), a Beijing-based car rental company; Edgen Group (EDG – proposed), a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based supplier of specialty products to the energy sector, and Supernus Pharmaceuticals (SUPN – proposed), a Rockville, Maryland-based specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on developing products for the treatment of central nervous system disorders such as epilepsy, ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) and depression.

 

Will any of these names blaze a trail to the stars?

 

As the saying goes, this is Wall Street, where anything can happen – and it often does.

 

Stay tuned.