Investing

Ferrari Leads IPO Calendar for Week of October 19

IPO
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Last week may have been something of a disappointment both to investors and companies seeking to launch their initial public offerings, but one sector did just fine. Two special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) or, more commonly, blank-check companies raised a combined $400 million last week.

Capital Acquisition III (NASDAQ: CLACU) raised $350 million and is the sixth blank-check company to raise that much cash in an IPO so far in 2015. Shanghai-based Pacific Special Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: PAACU) raised $50 million. According to IPO ETF manager Renaissance Capital, 2015 has been the most active year for blank-check companies since 2007.

The rest of last week’s other nine proposed IPOs did not fare so well. Only four reached the trading floor. The largest of those, First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC) priced below its expected range and closed flat for the week. Strongbridge Biopharma plc (NASDAQ: SBBP) and Cerecor Inc. (NASDAQ: CERCU) raised $26 million and $25 million respectively. Only Strongbridge closed the week with gain, and that just 0.5%.

The final successful IPO last week was Fuling Global Inc. (NASDAQ: FORK), a “best-efforts” offering that priced at the low end of its range and raised $25 million following several weeks of trying.

The week’s biggest disappointment was the delayed offering from Albertsons Companies Inc. The grocery store chain apparently could not achieve a price in its expected range of $23 to $25 a share and, Renaissance Capital notes, would not accept a price below $20. SynCardia Systems Inc. also failed to issue its stock and has withdrawn its IPO.

Two of last week’s IPOs were delayed until the coming week, and two others have delayed their offerings for the umpteenth time.

Through the week ending October 16th, Renaissance Capital reported that 147 IPOs have priced in the U.S. so far this year, down nearly 36% from a year ago. Total proceeds raised through last week equaled $26.8 billion, down about 64% compared with the same period in 2014. Of the 147 IPOs that have gone off this year, 69 have come from the healthcare sector. Last year’s IPO total came in at $85.2 billion, the highest total in the past ten years. Renaissance Capital does not include “best efforts” or blank-check companies in its totals.

Three new IPOs are on this week’s calendar along with the four firms returning for another go.

The first company back for a second try next week is American Farmland Company, an internally managed real-estate company (REIT) that owns a diversified portfolio of high-quality farmland and farmland development projects in the U.S. The company plans to offer 12 million shares in an expected price range of $8.50 to $10.50 to raise $114 million at an implied market cap of $217.6 million. Joint bookrunners for the offering are Deutsche Bank, Citi, Raymond James, RBC Capital Markets, and FBR Capital Markets. Co-managers are Janney Montgomery Scott, Oppenheimer & Co., and Wunderlich Securities. Shares are shown as day-to-day and will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AFCO.

The other company that failed to launch in its first try last week was Adesto Technologies Corp. which provides application-specific, non-volatile memory products optimized for the Internet of Things market. The company increased the number of shares on offer from 4.1 million to 6 million and lowered the IPO price from a range of $10 to $12 to a fixed $7 per share price. At the new price the company expects to raise $42 million at an implied market cap of about $111 million. Joint bookrunners for the offering are Needham & Co. and Oppenheimer & Co. Co-manager is Roth Capital. Shares are noted as day-to-day and will be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol IOTS.

Sole Elite Group Ltd., a China-based maker of shoe soles used in the manufacture of sports shoes, continues a weeks-long quest for entry to the public markets. The company plans to offer 3 million shares in an expected price range of $10 to $12 to raise $33 million at a fully diluted market cap of $198 million. Joint bookrunners for the offering are Dawson James and ViewTrade. The shares are shown as day-to-day and will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol SOLE.

The other delay offering is Sweden-based Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB. The pharmaceutical company plans to list American Depositary Shares (ADS) on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol OASM. The company’s shares already trade on the Nasdaq Stockholm exchange and on the Frankfurt exchange. The sole bookrunner is Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. and the co-manager is Aegis Capital Corp. The company plans to price an unspecfied number of ADSes in a range of $5.75 and $7.75 per ADS and raise $23 million. One ADS is equal to three ordinary shares. The offering is indicated only for the week of October 19th. Renaissance Capital does not count this as an IPO in its statistical summaries.

The first new offering in the coming week is the innocuously named New Business Netherlands NV. Shortly before the IPO the company will change its name to Ferrari NV and offer 17.2 million shares in an expected price range of $48 to $52 million to raise nearly $860 million at an implied market cap of nearly $9.5 billion. Joint bookrunners for the offering are UBS Investment Bank, BofA/Merrill Lynch, Allen & Company, Banco Santander, BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan, and Mediobanca. Shares are expected to price Tuesday and begin trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol RACE.

Dimension Therapeutics Inc. is a gene therapy platform company focused on discovering and developing new therapeutic products for people living with rare diseases associated with the liver and caused by genetic mutations. The company plans to offer 5.5 million shares in an expected price range of $14 to $16, raising $82.5 million at an implied market cap of around $373 million. Joint bookrunners for the offering are Goldman Sachs and Citi. Lead manager is Wells Fargo Securities and co-managers are Canaccord Genuity and Cantor Fitzgerald. Shares are expected to price Wednesday and begin trading Thursday on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol DMTX.

Multi Packaging Solutions International Ltd. is a global provider of value-added specialty packaging solutions focused on high complexity products for the consumer, healthcare and multimedia markets. The company plans to offer 18.8 million shares in an IPO price range of $15 to $17 to raise $300 million at an implied market cap of approximately $1.2 billion. Joint bookrunners for the offering are BofA/Merrill Lynch, Barclays, and Citi. Co-managers include Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, UBS Investment Bank, Baird, and BMO Capital Markets. Shares are expected to price Wednesday and begin trading Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MPSX.

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