The real excitement came from the IPO filing window of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week. On Thursday, Snap (SNAP – proposed) filed its long-awaited IPO to raise $3 billion. Now that’s a large offering.
The largest U.S. IPO offering on record was Alibaba Group Holding (BABA). On Sept. 18, 2014, Alibaba priced 320.1 million American Depositary Shares at $68 each to raise $21.8 billion. Alibaba’s initial filing – on May 6, 2014 – was set to raise $1 billion. That’s large, but not the largest.
The largest IPO filing came on April 4, 2013; it was Votoratim Cimentos S.A., Brazil’s largest cement company and the eighth largest in the world. The company filed to raise $5.4 billion, but the IPO never got out the door. It was withdrawn on Aug. 12, 2013.
Now let’s snap back to the present.
Snap states in its prospectus that it is a camera company. Its flagship product, Snapchat, is a camera application that was created for people to communicate through short videos and images that disappear. The company logged revenue of $404.5 million and a loss of $514.66 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2016. Snap reported an accumulated deficit of $1.21 billion.
Other than the filing amount, no pricing terms were given. The prospectus is mum on two elements: number of shares and price range. Nevertheless, this is a normal practice. Sometime at a future date, there will be a follow-up filing with that information – and then, and only then, will underwriters release the pricing date.
Until then, the whole world waits.
A February Foursome
This week’s IPO calendar lists four offerings. They are expected to raise a little over $600 million. Among them are two real estate investment trusts (REITs), a metal and glass packager and a building products company.
The word on The Street is that the professionals are looking at the building products company.
Foundation Building Materials (FBM – proposed) is based in Tustin, California. The company is the second-largest specialty distributor of wallboard and suspended ceiling systems in the United States and Canada, according to its prospectus. Foundation Building Materials is the second-largest specialty distributor and one of the largest fabricators of commercial and industrial mechanical insulation in the United States.
(Note: For company profiles, pricing information and trading dates, please check IPOScoop.com’s website.)
Clipper Realty (CLPR – proposed), based in Brooklyn, N.Y., is a real estate company that acquires, owns, manages, operates and repositions multi-family residential and commercial properties in the metropolitan New York area, with an initial portfolio in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Sachem Capital (SACH – proposed), based in Branford, Connecticut, is a real estate finance company that specializes in originating, underwriting, funding, servicing and managing a portfolio of short-term loans secured by first mortgage liens on real property located primarily in Connecticut.
Mauser Group N.V. (MSR – proposed), based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, is a global supplier of rigid packaging products and services for industrial use. The company’s product and service offerings include plastic, metal and fiber drums, intermediate bulk containers (IBCs) and the collection, reconditioning and resale of used IBCs and plastic drums.
Next week’s IPO calendar is “clean and green.” There is nothing on it, but that could change when the SEC’s filing window opens on Monday morning.
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 opinion.