IPOdesktop.com’s Francis Gaskins was on Bloomberg TV just a while ago blasting Berry Plastics as a company leveraged-up with debt and growing only via acquisitions. Gaskins even went on to note that he would not want to buy any Apollo-led IPOs until he is convinced that there is a decent deal out there from the private equity firm.
To show just how bad this 29.4 million share IPO was, Berry is trading down at $15.07 from its $16.00 offering price. Berry’s projected price range was $16.00 to $18.00. Apollo retains roughly 59% of the company after the IPO. Berry was shown to have a massive debt load of $4.5 billion that is now over five-times the company’s annual earnings.
Realogy Holdings Corp is another Apollo-backed IPO and it is scheduled to come public in the next week, and it is also under a heavy debt load.
Despite a disappointing IPO, Apollo shares are up 2.3% at $14.75 as last night’s presidential debate would indicate that private equity as a sector might get bashed a little less ahead. The PowerShares Global Listed Private Equity (NYSEMKT: PSP) ETF is also up 1.7% at $9.67 on the day.
JON C. OGG
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