The moment of truth will come on Friday morning, Sept. 19, when Alibaba is expected to start trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The Alibaba offering – estimated at $20 billion – would be the largest IPO to come to market in the United States, according to the SEC filings. It would top the Visa (V) IPO of March 2008, when Visa sold 406 million shares at $44 each to raise $17.9 billion.
Alibaba by the Numbers
Here is what we know from the amendment to the prospectus:
The number of shares being offered: 320.1 million American Depositary Shares. Each ADS represents one ordinary share.
*The company will offer about 123.1 million ADS and selling shareholders will offer about 197 million ADS.
**Note: Yahoo will offer about 121.7 million ADS. Yahoo will own about 401.8 million ADS after the IPO.
The offering price: US$60 to US$66 per share (subject to change)
The amount expected to be raised: About US$20.2 billion, based on the mid-point of its price range
The number of shares outstanding after the offering:
2,465.0 million ADS
Market capitalization: $155.3 billion, based on the mid-point of its price range
The bankers: Six joint-lead managers – Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Citi;
14 co-managers (all listed on the cover of the prospectus) and 15 other underwriters (Complete list on page 310 of the prospectus, found here.)
The expected pricing date: Thursday, Sept. 18, to trade on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday morning, Sept. 19.
Visa’s Report Card
Passing note of interest: The Visa offering was a winner from the get-go. After Visa was priced at $44 per share, the IPO opened for trading on March 19, 2008, at $59.50, sold as high as $66 and closed its opening day at $56.50, UP 28.4 percent from its initial offering price. Visa closed on Friday, Sept. 5, 2014, at $214.21 – UP 279.1 per cent from its first day’s close.
Analysts still like the stock.
Research services report about 30 analysts rate Visa as a “Buy” to a “Strong Buy” with a mean average price target of $250 per share.
Since Alibaba filed to go public on May 6, 2014, the IPO parade has never stopped.
The calendar has produced 91 IPOs from May 6 to date. As of the close on Friday, Sept. 5th, a total of 68 IPOs were in the winner’s circle and 23 were losers; the average gain was 29.5 percent. Over that same time, the S&P 500 Index has gained 7.5 percent.
On the Medical Frontier
Turning to this week, the calendar has two offerings: Affimed Therapeutics and ReWalk Robotics.
Affimed Therapeutics (AFMD – proposed) is based in Heidelberg, Germany. This is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery and development of highly targeted cancer immunotherapies. The company’s product candidates are being developed in the field of immuno-oncology, which represents an innovative approach to cancer treatment that seeks to harness the body’s own immune defenses to fight tumor cells. The offering is expected to be priced on Thursday evening, Sept. 11, and to trade on Friday morning, Sept. 12. (For more information, please click here: Affimed Therapeutics)
ReWalk Robotics (RWLK – proposed) is an Israeli medical device company. ReWalk is developing exoskeletons that allow wheelchair-bound individuals to stand and walk. The offering is expected to be priced on Thursday evening, Sept. 11, and to trade on Friday morning, Sept. 12. (For more information, please click here: ReWalk Robotics)
This time next week, it’s showtime for Alibaba.
Stay tuned.
Disclosure: Neither the author nor anyone else on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned, nor do we trade or invest in IPOs. The author and IPOScoop.com staff do not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.