IPOs This Week: Software Maker Appian Plus 3 More Hopefuls

May 21, 2017 by Paul Ausick

Three initial public offerings (IPOs) on last week’s calendar made it out the door and there are four new IPOs on this week’s list.

Among last week’s IPOs, Chinese-education company Bright Scholar Education Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: BEDU) sold 15 million shares at $10.50, above the expected range of $8 to $10 and raised $158 million. The first-day pop rang in at 28% and the stock closed the week up 29%.

Netherlands-based argenx NV (NASDAQ: ARGX) sold 5.9 million shares at $16.62, an increase of 2.7 million the number of shares offered. The firm raised $100 million and got a first-day pop of 35% before finishing the week up 29%.

G1 Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: GTHX) sold 7 million shares at $150, the low end of the expected range, but an increase of 700,000 in the number of shares offered. Shares closed the week up 10%.

Through the week ending May 19, IPO ETF manager Renaissance Capital reported that 59 IPOs have priced in the U.S. so far this year, up about 127% year over year. Total proceeds raised through last week equaled $16.8billion. For 2016, Renaissance Capital reported a total of 105 IPOs, down 38% year over year from 170 in 2015. Total 2016 proceeds amounted to $18.8 billion compared with a 2015 total of $30 billion. Renaissance Capital does not include “best efforts” or blank-check companies in its totals, nor does it include IPOs that raise less than $10 million.

Here are some details on the four IPOs scheduled for the coming week. The firm plans to offer

Appian Corp. provides a software development as a service platform. The company plans to offer 6.3 million shares in an expected price range of $11 to $13 to raise $75 million at an implied market cap of $704 million. Underwriters for the offering include Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Pacific Crest, Canaccord Genuity, and Cowen & Co. Shares are expected to price Wednesday and begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol APPN.

KBL Merger Corp. IV is a blank-check company that plans to focus on acquiring an operating company in the healthcare sector. The firm plans to offer 10 million units comprised of one share of common stock and one warrant at an IPO price of $10 per unit. Underwriters are Ladenburg Thalmann & Co., B. Riley & Co., and FBR Capital Markets. Units begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol KBLMU.

SMART Global Holdings Inc. is a Cayman Island-based Brazilian maker of memory products for computers and smartphones. The company plans to offer 5.3 million shares in an expected price range of $13 to $15 to raise $74 million at an implied market cap of $289 million. Underwriters include Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Jefferies, Stifel, Needham & Co., and Roth Capital. Shares are expected to price Wednesday and begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SGH.

WideOpenWest Inc. is a cable TV operator offering services in more than 300 communities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina, and Tennessee. The company plans to sell 19 million shares in an expected price range of $20 to $22 to raise $400 million at an implied market cap of $1.8 billion. Underwriters include UBS Investment Bank, Credit Suisse, RBC Capital Markets, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Evercore ISI, Macquarie Capital, LionTree, and Raymond James. Shares are expected to price Wednesday and begin trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol WOW.

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