The IPO Buzz: Cranking Up the IPO Calendar

It’s been said the only thing new is the history you haven’t read. The 2015 IPO calendar is a classic example. In past years, the new-issues market made its debut by mid-January. Right on schedule, three IPOs are set to start trading this year on Friday, Jan. 16, 2015.

Let’s look at recent history:

Now let’s move back to 2015 and revisit last week. On Tuesday, Jan. 6, two companies – Patriot National (PN – proposed) and Sutherland(SLD – proposed) – announced plans for their IPOs. Both will be priced on Thursday, Jan. 15, after the close. They will start trading on Friday, Jan. 16.

Two more companies joined the IPO calendar on Friday, Jan 9: County Bancorp (ICBK – proposed) and Box (BOX – proposed). County Bancorp said its IPO will be priced post-close on Thursday, Jan. 15; it will start trading on Friday, Jan. 16. Box said it will go public the following week, with pricing post-close on Thursday, Jan. 22, and its debut on Friday, Jan. 23.

Before last Tuesday, the question was: “Where’s the IPO market?” History has the answer: The action starts in mid-January.

Here is a brief look at this week’s IPO calendar:

County Bancorp is a Wisconsin-based bank holding company providing financial services to agricultural businesses statewide. The company focuses on dairy-related lending. County Bancorp also provides services to business and retail customers throughout Wisconsin. It has its full-service locations in Manitowoc and Stevens Point, and its loan production offices in Darlington, Eau Claire and Fond du Lac.

Patriot National is a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based provider of comprehensive outsourcing solutions within the workers’ compensation marketplace for insurance companies, employers, local governments and reinsurance captives.

Sutherland Asset Management is a New York City-based real estate  investment trust (REIT). This is Sutherland’s second attempt to go public. The company acquires, originates, manages, services and finances mostly small-balance commercial (SBC) loans ranging in original principal amount between $500,000 and $10 million. Sutherland also acquires sub-performing and non-performing SBC loans. Small businesses take out these loans to buy real estate for their operations. Investors use SBC loans to acquire small multi-family, office, retail, mixed-use or warehouse properties. Sutherland Partners, LP, is the company’s operating partnership subsidiary. For the quarters ending Sept. 30, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2014, Sutherland declared a quarterly cash dividend of 30 cents per share of common stock and partnership unit, according to its prospectus. That works out to an annual yield of about 7.7 percent, based on the mid-point of its filing range of $15 to $16 per share.

Looking into the week of Jan. 19, 2015, the calendar has one deal aiming to raise $150 million. The name is Box, a cloud-based platform provider that has already generated a lot of buzz. More names could pop onto the IPO calendar by the time that Monday, Jan. 19, rolls around. At this time last week, people were asking: Where is the IPO market? It has arrived.

Stay tuned.