The IPO Buzz: Pumping Up the October Calendar

Consider: From 2000 through 2013, the calendar generated 2,495 IPOs, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. That made an “average year” equal to 192 IPOs and an “average month” equal to 16 IPOs. The Octobers of 2000 through  2013 chipped in with 262 IPOs. That made an “average” October equal to 19 IPOs. That’s 18.8 percent above the 13-year monthly average of 16 IPOs.

 

And this year, October opens with a calendar of 14 deals.

 

Highlighting this week’s new-issue traffic are a billion-dollar baby and a handful of IPOs that many players have on the “most wanted” list. Let’s get down to the meat of this week’s calendar.

 

FMSA Holdings (FMSA – proposed), based in Chesterland, Ohio, believes it is one of the world’s largest providers of sand-based proppant solutions used by oilfield service, exploration and development companies to enhance the productivity of their oil and gas wells. Proppants are used in fracking in shale gas wells to “prop” open the underground cracks from which natural gas is extracted, according to About.com. FMSA Holdings and its predecessors have been around for more than 120 years. FMSA plans to price its IPO of 44.5 million shares at $21 to $24 each to raise $1 billion.

(For more information, please click here: FMSA Holdings)

 

So far this year, eight billion-dollar babies have come to market. Each has done reasonably well in the aftermarket. Six finished their opening day of trading in the winner’s circle, while one was a loser and the other finished unchanged from its initial public offering price. The average opening-day gain for all eight was 15.74 percent versus an opening-day gain of 15.66 percent for all IPOs priced so far in 2014.

 

Vivint Solar (VSLR – proposed), based in Provo, Utah, distributes solar energy to more than 21,900 homes in seven states. The company is the second-largest installer of solar energy systems in the U.S. residential market with market share of about 8 percent in 2013, according to GTM Research and its “Q1 2014 PV Leaderboard” report.

(For more information, please click here: Vivint Solar)

 

Wayfair (W – proposed), based in Boston, believes it has created one of the world’s largest online home furnishing outlets. Wayfair Inc. offers over 7 million products from over 7,000 suppliers across its five distinct brands — Wayfair.com, Joss & Main, All+Modern, DwellStudio and Birch Lane.

(For more information, please click here: Wayfair)

Yodlee (YDLE – proposed), based in Redwood City, California, provides a technology and applications platform called Yodlee Financial Cloud for digital financial services in the cloud. Yodlee’s customers include nine of the 15 largest U.S. banks.

Other customers are Internet service companies providing innovative financial solutions and third-party developers of financial applications. The company believes more than 750 organizations in over 10 countries use the Yodlee platform to drive their consumer digital offerings. Yodlee receives subscription fees for 15.7 million of these consumers.

For more information, please click here: Yodlee)

 

Looking into the week of Oct. 6, 2014, the calendar has three deals with bankers planning to raise over $700 million. But more names could pop onto the calendar by the time that Monday, Oct. 6, rolls around.

 

 

Stay tuned.