A 3,583.05-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average turned out to be the largest single weekly loss ever for the blue-chip index. But that didn’t stop the IPO market in its tracks – no matter what the financial press reported. There’s a $1.5 billion IPO on tap this week and a flurry of new deals in the wings. (More on this in a minute.)
The Dow average closed on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020, at 25,409.36, down 12.4 percent from its week-ago close at 28,992.41 on Feb. 21. That slide was the Dow’s biggest loss in a week in its 124-year history. (The Dow average was created in 1896.)
The financial press wasn’t much kinder to the IPO market. They reported that in days like this, the IPO market dries up. Their comments were published before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window closed on Friday. Maybe the financial press should have waited.
A Flurry of Filings
On Friday afternoon, the SEC posted seven new IPO filings expected to raise over $1.3 billion.
Note: IPOScoop.com publishes the 2020 IPO Scorecard chart on the right side of its home page. Scroll below the chart to the bottom of the home page, look at the last line, and click on ARCHIVE. Click on IPO Traffic: Week Ending Feb. 28, 2020. Click on READ MORE.
You’ll see nine IPOs expecting to raise over $2 billion. This included Thursday’s $500 million filing by ZoomInfo Technologies (ZI proposed), a go-to market intelligence platform for sales and marketing teams.
What was not included:
- Thursday’s announcement of a confidential IPO filing by DoorDash, an on-demand delivery service, with a CBInsights valuation of $12.6 billion.
All this came in a week when the Dow plunged 3,583.05 points.
March Begins with Big Deal
Now let’s take a look at the March IPO Calendar. March 2020 begins with one deal looking to raise $1.5 billion.
Let’s look at that deal and its timing.
Tuesday evening pricing for Wednesday trading
GFL Environmental Holdings (GFL proposed), based in Canada, is the fourth-largest diversified environmental services company in North America. GFL operates in Canada and 23 states in the United States. GFL offers trash collection and recycling services as well as infrastructure, soil remediation and liquid waste management.
GFL plans to offer 73.2 million subordinate voting shares at $20 to $21 each on Tuesday evening, March 3, to trade Wednesday morning, March 4. This is a New York Stock Exchange listing.
March IPO Stats
The month of March is historically a fairly busy time for IPOs.
For the 19 years from 2001 through 2019, the March IPO Calendar produced an average of 12 deals, SEC records and IPOScoop data show. The busiest March was in 2014 with 27 IPOs and the slowest March happened twice – in 2003 and 2009 – with one IPO each.
Second Week of March 2020
This brings us to the week of March 9, 2020, when the IPO Calendar is blank so far. But that could change when the SEC’s filing window opens again for business on Monday, March 2nd.
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.