The IPO market is springing back to life in April after a quiet week – just as the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ spokespeople had predicted it would. Eight IPOs have jumped onto April’s calendar, aiming to raise over $1.9 billion. This time last week, only one deal was on the launch pad.
There’s more: Another seven companies filed plans to go public last week – and the sun had yet to come up on April.
Among the newcomers to the IPO pipeline were:
- Cloudera (CLDR – proposed), a company that provides Apache Hadoop-based software, support, services and training to business customers. SharesPost reported a $4.16 billion valuation for Cloudera;
- Carvana (CVNA – proposed), an online-only used car dealer that lets customers shop, finance and trade in cars through its website, and
- Frontier Group Holdings (FRNT – proposed), an ultra-low-cost carrier offering flights throughout the United States and to select international destinations in Mexico and the Caribbean. (More information will be available on these IPOs in later columns.)
Energy, Tech and Trucks
For the week of April 3, six IPOs are expected to make their debuts. They are looking to raise about $1.66 billion. Among “the most talked about” deals this week are: Hess Midstream Partners LP (HESM – proposed), an oil and gas dividend play; Okta (OKTA – proposed), an identity management software provider, and Schneider National (SNDR – proposed), the operator of one of the biggest trucking fleets in North America.
Hess Midstream, based in Houston, is a fee-based, growth-oriented traditional master limited partnership formed by Hess in 2014 to own, operate, develop and acquire a diverse set of midstream assets to provide services to Hess and third-party customers. Most of its initial assets are oil and natural gas pipelines and storage facilities in the Bakken Shale formation in North Dakota.
Note: Hess Midstream plans to pay a quarterly dividend of 30 cents per common unit, or $1.20 on an annual basis, to yield 6 percent based upon the mid-point of its IPO price.
Bankers plan to price 12.5 million common units at $19 to $21 each on Tuesday evening, April 4, to trade Wednesday morning, April 5, 2017, on the New York Stock Exchange.
Okta, based in San Francisco, is an independent provider of identity management software for the enterprise. The Okta Identity Cloud lets its customers securely connect people to technology anywhere, anytime and from any device. For the year ended Jan. 31, 2017, the company reported total revenue of $160.3 million, compared with total revenue of $85.9 million for the year ended Jan. 31, 2016, and total revenue of $41 million for the year ended Jan. 31, 2015. As of Jan. 31, 2017, Okta reported an accumulated deficit of $287.9 million. On Jan. 31, 2017, the company said more than 3,100 customers used the Okta Identity Cloud to secure and manage identities in over 185 countries. Adobe, LinkedIn and MassMutual are among its customers, according to Okta’s prospectus.
Note: Okta is a unicorn with a market value of about $1.3 billion.
Bankers plan to price 11 million shares of Class A common stock at $13 to $15 each on Thursday evening, April 6, to trade Friday morning, April 7, 2017, on the NASDAQ.
Schneider National, based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, is a transportation and logistics services company providing a broad portfolio of premier truckload, intermodal and logistics solutions. The company operates one of the largest for-hire trucking fleets in North America.
The company plans to offer 28.9 million shares at $18 to $20 each on Wednesday evening, April 5, to trade Thursday morning, April 6, 2017, on the NYSE.
The other IPOs on this week’s calendar are: Azul (AZUL – proposed)), a Brazilian airline; Elevate Credit (ELVT – proposed), a non-prime lender and credit provider, and Forum Merger (FMCIU – proposed), a “blank check” company, also known as a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company. (For more information, please check their profiles on IPOScoop.com’s website.)
Looking Ahead
This brings us to the week of April 10. Its IPO calendar has two offerings, but the traffic could change when the SEC’s filing window opens for business on Monday morning, April 3.
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.