Category Archives: The IPO Buzz

The IPO market brought home a report card last week that was something to brag about. But this week, it’s so quiet that it looks like school is closed.

 

The Street is on track for its busiest IPO week in more than a year. This week’s calendar lists 11 deals looking to raise $3.5 billion. Two are blockbusters known as billion-dollar babies – each expects to raise $1 billion. Another deal is a cloud-based application provider that IPO experts think could soar into orbit.

 

October’s IPO calendar is building from last month’s traffic. September 2012 generated eight IPOs, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. By Friday’s close, Sept. 28, the calendar already had 15 IPOs lined up for this month. It might be worth noting that the August, September and October 2011 new-issues calendars produced only seven offerings.

There are just a few names on this week’s IPO calendar, but there are magical words among them. One offering is a cloud computer company, another a high-yielding limited partnership in the energy sector and the other is a foreign bank whose American Depositary Shares (ADS) represent stock already traded on its own national stock exchange.

 

What’s a bull market without an IPO calendar? Happy to report, we have both. The major U.S. stock market indexes closed on Friday, Sept. 14, 2012, at levels that they haven’t seen in years. And this week’s calendar boasts seven deals expecting to raise about $1.3 billion.

The IPO market always gets off to a slow start in September. The delay is a seasonal factor caused by the Labor Day break. It usually takes until mid-month for the IPO market to come to life. It is happening now. The “Open for Business” sign was hung up on Wall Street’s IPO window last week.

 

It’s been said all you need to know about how an IPO might trade on its first day can be found on the front page of its prospectus. Recently more information has been added.

 

 

The IPO market stumbled through August like a punch-drunk prizefighter. But it came out a winner in the end. Summer is over now for the IPO calendar. It answered its last bell right on schedule; more on that in a minute.

 

Bloomin’ Brands (BLMN) and Manchester United (MANU) dominated the IPO news last week. In the meantime, Hi-Crush Partners LP (HCLP – proposed) slipped in under the radar and landed on this week’s IPO calendar.

 

This week wraps up the summer of 2012 for the IPO market. There are six deals on the calendar and nothing thereafter. But there are a few headliners in the wings this week waiting to make their debuts. They are a couple of well- known restaurant chains and a sporting dynasty that dates back into the 19^th Century.