The IPO Buzz: Nine Deals Dance into Mid-November

eHi Car Services Ltd (EHIC – proposed), China’s No. 1 car services provider and No. 2 car rental provider in terms of market share ranked by revenues in 2013, according to Frost & Sullivan, was all set to price its IPO on Thursday evening, Nov. 13, but an SEC filing popped up earlier that day that put the brakes on the proposed offering. This is what was posted: “On November 12, 2014, PwC received a communication from a non-employee who allegedly obtained information from one of our employees, alleging that (i) certain cars in our fleet were not suitable for rental and were accounted for at a high residual value above their actual residual value, and (ii) we had misrepresented the size of our fleet by including certain cars that were lost. These allegations mirror those made in the letters received in October 2014 by PwC and the underwriters whose names appeared on the cover of the registration statement.”

 

With the disclosure out of the way, the deal is on track to be priced Monday evening, Nov. 17, 2014, to trade Tuesday morning.

 

Turning to the rest of this week’s offerings, there are several that have caught the eye of some of the IPO players. They are Cnova N.V. (CNV – proposed), Habit Restaurants (HABT – proposed), Neff Corporation (NEFF – proposed) and Paramount Group (PGRE – proposed).

 

 

 

Habit Restaurants is an Irvine, California-based fast casual restaurant company specializing in preparing fresh made-to-order char-grilled burgers and sandwiches featuring USDA choice tri-tip steak, grilled chicken and sushi-grade albacore tuna cooked over an open flame. In addition, the company features freshly prepared salads and an appealing selection of sides, shakes and malts. The Habit Burger Grill’s hamburger was named the “best- tasting burger in America” in July 2014 in a comprehensive survey conducted by one of America’s leading consumer magazines. Habit’s history goes back to 1969, when its first restaurant opened in Santa Barbara.

 

 

Neff Corporation is a Miami-based regional equipment rental company focused on the fast-growing Sunbelt states. The company operates about 64 branches in five U.S. regions, ranging from Florida to the Atlantic, Central, Southeastern and Western states. Neff offers a broad array of equipment rental solutions for its diverse customer base, including non-residential construction, oil and gas, and residential construction customers. Earth-moving equipment is one of Neff’s main categories of rental equipment.

 

Paramount Group is a New York City-based real estate investment trust that owns a portfolio of 12 Class A office properties located in New York City, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. The company intends to pay quarterly cash distributions of 9.5 cents per share, or 38 cents per share annually, to yield 2.2 percent based upon the mid-point of its price range of $16 to $19 per share.

Looking into the week of Nov. 24, 2014, the calendar has one deal looking to raise $8 million. But more names could pop onto the calendar by the time that Monday, Nov. 24, rolls around. Consider this: This time last week, the IPO calendar for the week of Nov. 17 had three deals looking to raise about $3.1 billion. Now it has nine IPOs looking to raise about $4.1 billion.