TheRealReal, an online consignment retailer of authenticated Hermes and other luxury fashion merchandise, is the name on everyone’s lips this week. It’s among several companies – and most of those are tech or biotech firms – attracting plenty of investor interest on a big IPO Calendar. Eleven IPOs are on tap, aiming to raise almost $2.4 billion.
The IPO lightning continues to crackle across Wall Street’s skies. The calendar has produced 101 IPOs since the beginning of 2019 and generated almost $37 billion, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s files. For this day and age, that’s heavy traffic.
Last week’s calendar produced eight IPOs that raised $4.3 billion. This included the non-IPO – the DPO or Direct Public Offering – by Slack Technologies (WORK). For the record, the deal came together on Thursday, June 20, 2019, at $38.50 – its offering price on the New York Stock Exchange. (Note: The offering price is the opening price on a DPO.) Slack did not experience a runaway wild aftermarket performance. It ran up to an intraday high at $42, hit an intraday low at $38.25, and closed its opening day at $38.62, up 12 cents. The enthusiasm cooled for its second day. Slack closed Friday at $37.22, down $1.28 from its offering price. (Slack’s initial reference price was $26, which was set on Wednesday night, June 19, 2019, the night before its NYSE debut. In a DPO, there is no underwriter.)
Worth repeating: This week, the gods of the IPO world are offering a calendar of 11 deals expecting to raise almost $2.4 billion. If everything gets out the door, this will bring 2019’s first half to a close with 112 IPOs raising $39.4 billion.
The following week, everybody will be off to celebrate the Fourth of July Holiday.
Let’s take a quick look at this week’s 11 IPOs, organized by pricing and trading dates.
Tuesday evening pricing to trade Wednesday morning:
BlackRock Science and Technology Trust (BSTZ proposed), based in Wilmington, Delaware, is a closed-end trust that filed to offer up to $100 million through 19 investment bankers.
Cambium Networks (CMBM proposed), based in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, provides wireless broadband networking for network operators, including medium-sized wireless Internet service providers, enterprises and government agencies.
Linx S.A. (LINX proposed), based in São Paulo, Brazil, is a leading cloud-based technology company in Latin America that provides affordable and easy-to-use software to the region’s retailers. Its stock already trades in Brazil.
Wednesday evening pricing to trade Thursday morning:
Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT proposed), based in Seattle, is engaged in advancing the field of immune-driven medicine by harnessing the inherent biology of the adaptive immune system to transform the diagnosis and treatment of disease.
BridgeBio Pharma (BBIO proposed), based in Palo Alto, California, is working to identify and advance transformative medicines to treat patients who suffer from Mendelian diseases, which arise from defects in a single gene, and cancers with clear genetic drivers.
Change Healthcare (CHNG proposed), based in Nashville, Tennessee, is a leading independent healthcare technology platform that provides data and analytics-driven solutions to improve clinical decision making, simplify billing, collection and payment processes, and enable a better patient experience.
Morphic Holding (MORF proposed), based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a biopharmaceutical company applying its proprietary insights into integrins (proteins that coordinate cell behavior) to discover and develop a pipeline of potentially first-in-class oral small-molecule integrin therapeutics to treat serious chronic diseases such as Crohn’s disease, pulmonary fibrosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).
Priam Properties (PRMI proposed), based in Nashville, Tennessee, is a newly formed, self-managed real estate company focused on acquiring, improving, owning and managing multi-tenant office properties in high-growth urban nodes in the Midwest and the Southeastern United States in target markets with at least 1 million people. The company intends to qualify as a REIT (a real estate investment trust) for its tax year ending on Dec. 31, 2019.
Thursday evening pricing to trade Friday morning:
Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX proposed), based in Boston, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing an oral drug to treat acute psychosis in patients with schizophrenia.
Pivotal Investment Corporation II (PIC.U proposed), based in New York, intends to acquire a leading, high-growth company. Potential acquisitions might be companies in logistics technology and “last mile” delivery services, business technology services, online cyber security and off-line physical security services, media and entertainment services and franchise businesses.
The RealReal (REAL proposed), based in San Francisco, provides an online marketplace (and a few retail stores) where people can sell on consignment their Hermes, Gucci, Prada or other luxury fashion merchandise – gently worn clothes, shoes, handbags, jewelry and other accessories – to people who want to get their fashion fix for a relative bargain. (Example: $150 for a coveted pair of shoes instead of $795.) The company authenticates the merchandise and streamlines the process for people who want to sell their designer finery on consignment.
First Week of July
The IPO Calendar is blank for the first week of July. This week will be cut short by the observance of the U.S. Independence Day holiday on July 4, 2019, which will fall on Thursday.
But anything can happen when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opens again for business 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 opinions.