The IPO Buzz: An Autumn IPO Bonanza

The last time we saw a busier IPO calendar was for the week of July 25, 2011, with 12 companies scheduled to go public. Eight made it out the door, led by Dunkin’ Brands (DNKN).

 

Dunkin’ priced its IPO of 22.3 million shares at $19 each on July 26, 2011. It closed its opening day at $27.85. On Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, Dunkin’ ended at $30.75 – UP 61.8 percent from its initial offering price.

 

Back to the present: The billion-dollar babies are LinnCo (LNCO – proposed) and Realogy Holdings (RLGY – proposed). The technology deal is Workday (WDAY – proposed). Rounding out the calendar are three biopharmaceutical deals (GlobeImmune – GBIM- proposed)(Intercept Pharmaceuticals – ICPT-proposed)and (KYTHERA Biopharmaceuticals – KYTH – proposed) – a semiconductor company (Ambarella – AMBA – proposed), a specialty food provider (Amira Nature Foods Ltd. – ANFI – proposed), another energy company (Diamondback Energy – FANG – proposed), a closed-end fund (Garrison Capital  –  GARS – proposed) and another technology company (Shutterstock (SSTK – proposed).

 

LinnCo, based in Houston, was recently formed to own shares in Linn Energy (LINE). LinnCo estimates its annualized dividend rate will be $2.84 per share for the period ending Dec. 31, 2013. That makes the yield 6.75 percent, based upon Linn Energy’s closing price on Friday, Oct. 5, 2012 at $42.10 per share.

 

LinnCo plans to price 30.25 million shares. The price will be determined to be within 5 percent of the last reported sales price of LINN Energy on Nasdaq. The IPO is expected to start trading on Friday morning on Nasdaq under the proposed symbol “LNCO.” The joint-lead managers are Barclays, Citigroup, RBC Capital Markets, Wells Fargo Securities, BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Raymond James and UBS Investment Bank. The co-managers are Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Baird, BMO Capital Markets, Credit Agricole CIB, CIBC, Scotiabank, Howard Weil and Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.

 

LinnCo plans to sell all of the shares in the offering. It expects to have 30.25 million shares outstanding after the offering.

 

Note: Thomson One rates Linn Energy as a “Buy” with a $44- per-share price target, based upon estimates from 11 analysts.

 

Realogy Holdings (originally filed as Domus Holdings) plans to price 40 million shares at $23 to $27 each on Wednesday evening. The IPO is expected to start trading on Thursday morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed symbol “RLGY.” The joint-lead managers are Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Barclays and Credit Suisse. The co-managers are Citigroup, Wells Fargo Securities, BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Agricole CIB, Comerica Securities, CRT Capital, Houlihan Lokey, Lebenthal, Loop Capital Markets and Apollo Global Securities.

 

Based in Parsippany, New Jersey, Realogy believes it is the pre-eminent provider of residential real estate services in the United State. Realogy also calls itself the world’s largest franchisor of residential real estate brokerage offices. Among its franchise brokerage brand names are Century 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, Sotheby’s International Realty and Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. It also owns and operates the Corcoran Group and CitiHabitats brands. Realogy was formed in 2006. It has about 10,900 employees.

 

Realogy plans to sell all of the shares in the offering. It expects to have about 130.2 million shares outstanding after the offering.

Workday is the IPO handicapper’s selection as the “pick-of-the week.” There is talk it could be one of the year’s outstanding performers.

 

Workday plans to price 22.8 million Class A shares of common stock at $21 to $24 each on Thursday evening. The IPO is expected to start trading on Friday morning on the New York Stock Exchange under the proposed symbol “WDAY.” The joint-lead managers are Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. The co-managers are Allen, J.P. Morgan Securities, Cowen, JMP Securities, Pacific Crest Securities, Wells Fargo Securities and Canaccord Genuity.

 

Based in Pleasanton, California, Workday is a provider of enterprise cloud-based applications for human capital management, payroll, financial management, time tracking, procurement and employee expense management. The company has more than 340 customers, including large global companies such as Aviva International Holdings, AIG, Flextronics International, Four Seasons Hotels, Georgetown University, Kimberly-Clark Corp. and Lenovo. Workday’s applications are available in 21 different languages. Formed in 2006, Workday has about 1,550 employees.

 

Workday plans to sell all of the Class A common stock.

The company expects to have about 22.8 million Class A common shares and about 137.5 million Class B common shares outstanding after the offering.

 

In contrast to this week’s bustling calendar, the week of Oct. 15 is a blank slate.

 

Stay tuned.