The IPO Buzz: Signs of an IPO Spring

By the time the week of February 4^th closed, the results were more sobering. Five of the eight IPOs made their debuts and raised $607.9 million, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Only two of the five finished in the winner’s circle, but each had given a clue as to what to expect. Both were priced above their original prices.   

 

The stars of the week of February 4^th were Boise Cascade (BCC) and ExOne (XONE). Boise Cascade, a distributor of wood and building products, priced its IPO of 11.8 million shares at $21 each; the deal was increased from $16 to $18 per share. BCC closed its opening day at $26.15, and it ended on Friday, March 15, 2013, at $32.63, UP 55.4 percent from its initial offering price. ExOne, a provider of three-dimensional printing machines and printed products, priced its IPO of 5.3 million shares at $18 each. The deal was increased from 5 million shares at $14 to $16 each. XONE closed its opening day at $26.52, and it ended on Friday at $30.81, UP 71.2 from its initial offering price.

 

Note: Comparing an IPO’s final pricing terms with its original terms can give a clue as to its aftermarket performance.

 

Consider this year: The calendar has priced 23 IPOs and their average opening-day gain was 14.4 percent. Twelve of the 23 IPOs of 2013 were priced above range, and their aftermarket performance has been a different story. Their average opening-day gain was 27.8 percent – nearly double this year’s average.

 

Now let’s turn to this week’s calendar, which features eight IPOs looking to raise about $1.29 billion.

 

Two technology IPOs are waiting in the wings to go public. Both are reportedly on the “Most Wanted” list: Marin Software (MRIN – proposed) and Model N (MODN – proposed).

 

Marin Software plans to price 7 million shares at $11 to $13 each on Thursday evening. The IPO is expected to start trading Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed symbol “MRIN.” The joint-lead managers are Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank Securities. The co-managers are UBS Investment Bank, Stifel and Wells Fargo Securities.

 

Based in San Francisco, Marin Software provides cloud-based digital advertising management software. It enables advertisers and agencies to measure the effectiveness of campaigns. The company’s software integrates with leading ad publishers, such as Baidu, Bing, Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and Yahoo! Japan, as well as with leading web analytics and ad-serving solutions, and with key enterprise applications that let marketers measure the return on investment of their marketing programs. Marin Software was formed in 2006. It has about 424 employees.

 

The company plans to sell all of the shares in the offering. It expects to have about 30.4 million shares outstanding after the offering.

Model N plans to price 6.45 million shares at $12.50 to $14.50 each on Tuesday evening. The IPO is expected to start trading Wednesday morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed symbol “MODN.” The joint-lead managers are J.P. Morgan and Deutsche Bank Securities. The co-managers are Stifel, Pacific Crest Securities, Piper Jaffray and Raymond James.

 

Based in Redwood City, California, Model N is a provider of revenue management solutions for the life science and technology industries. The company believes it is a pioneer in its market. The Model N solutions enable customers to maximize revenues and reduce revenue compliance risk by transforming their revenue lifecycle from a series of tactical disjointed operations into a strategic end-to-end process. Among Model N’s life science customers are Abbott, Amgen, Boston Scientific, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson and Merck. Its technology customers include Dell, Nokia, ST Micro and VMware. Model N was formed in 1999 and has about 600 employees.

 

Model N plans to sell 6 million shares and selling shareholders plan to sell 450,000 shares. The company expects to have about 21.4 million shares outstanding after the offering.

But that’s not all, folks!

 

The “Watch List” includes a couple of other IPOs: Enanta Pharmaceuticals (ENTA – proposed) and West Corporation (WSTC – proposed).

 

Enanta is a biotechnology company that uses its chemistry-driven approach and drug discovery capabilities to create small-molecule drugs to treat infectious diseases. Current projects are focused on developing treatments for hepatitis C and an antibiotic to fight infections caused by MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. Since 2006, Enanta has received about $157.6 million in collaboration fees from AbbVie and Novartis.

 

West Corporation is a provider of technology-driven communication services offering a broad range of services, including conferencing and collaboration, unified communications, alerts and notifications, emergency communications, business process outsourcing and telephony interconnect services. The company was formed in 1986. It has about 5,700 employees.

 

That brings us to next week, with two deals on the calendar. Worth remembering: At this time last week, there were only three deals on the calendar for the week of March 18. And then it swelled to eight.

Stay tuned.