Out of last week’s five initial public offering (IPO) candidates, just two priced and began trading. Two others postponed and the fifth — a “best efforts” IPO — is back on the calendar for this week.
IPO ETF manager Renaissance Capital reported that 24 IPOs have priced in the United States so far this year, down about 31% from a year ago. Total proceeds raised come to $3.9 billion, down about 43% compared with the same period in 2014. Of the 24 IPOs that have gone off this year, 13 have come from the health care sector. Last year’s IPO total came in at $85.2 billion, the highest total in the past decade. Renaissance Capital does not include OTC listings or blank check companies in its IPO data.
Infraredx and AutoGenomics both postponed their IPOs last week. The two firms represent half the total of four medical diagnostics companies that have sought an IPO so far this year. Only one, Invitae Corp. (NYSE: NVTA), has actually begun trading.
The two companies that successfully priced and began trading last week were Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ: ITEK), which priced its IPO at $6 a share, far below the planned range of $13 to $15, and Check-Cap Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHEKU), which priced 2 million units (one share of common stock and half a warrant to purchase an additional share) at $6, the low end of the proposed range.
Only one IPO decorates this week’s calendar. Wowo Ltd. is a China-based lifestyle, e-commerce platform. The company plans to offer 6 million shares in an expected price range of $9 to $11, raising $60 million at a market cap of around $384 million. The offering is being made on a “best efforts” basis and is not tracked by Renaissance Capital. The sole bookrunner on the offering is Axiom Capital Management. Shares are expected to price on Tuesday and begin trading Wednesday on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol WOWO.
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