initial public offerings (IPOs) trading on American exchanges

Saturday, May 30, 2020

Goldman Sachs MLP (GMZ); MLP and Energy Renaissance Fund (GER) : 6- and 7-year performance






April 13, 2020
Goldman Sachs Asset Management ("GSAM"), investment adviser for the Goldman Sachs MLP Income Opportunities Fund (GMZ) and Goldman Sachs MLP and Energy Renaissance Fund (GER) (together, the "Funds"), announced today that GMZ effected a 7-for-1 reverse share split and GER effected a 9-for-1 reverse share split for each Fund’s issued and outstanding common shares effective after the market close on April 13, 2020. The Funds’ common shares will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis when the market opens on April 14, 2020.

The Funds

Each Fund is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company managed by GSAM’s Energy & Infrastructure Team, which is among the industry’s largest master limited partnerships ("MLP") investment groups. The Goldman Sachs MLP Income Opportunities Fund began trading on the NYSE on November 26, 2013, and the Goldman Sachs MLP and Energy Renaissance Fund began trading on the NYSE on September 26, 2014.

Each Fund seeks a high level of total return with an emphasis on current distributions to shareholders. The Goldman Sachs MLP Income Opportunities Fund invests primarily in MLP investments. The Goldman Sachs MLP and Energy Renaissance Fund invests primarily in MLPs and other energy investments. Each Fund currently expects to concentrate its investments in the energy sector, with an emphasis on midstream MLP investments. The Goldman Sachs MLP and Energy Renaissance Fund invests across the energy value chain, including upstream, midstream and downstream investments.

Friday, May 29, 2020

JDE Peet's : Europe’s largest IPO since 2018

JDE Peet's raised €2.25 billion ($2.5 billion) in an Amsterdam listing that valued the firm at €15.6 billion ($17.3 billion).
  • chart (yahoo)
  • Shares of JDE Peet’s surged 14% in their debut on Friday in Europe. The company, resulting from the merger of Jacobs Douwe Egberts and Peet’s last December, is the world’s No. 2 coffee player, with a portfolio that includes Jacobs Coffee, Douwe Egberts, Peet’s, L’OR, Senseo, Tassimo, Pickwick and more.
  • The family behind JAB, the Reimanns, is facing scrutiny for its Nazi past, after the German newspaper Bild reported that Albert Reimann Sr. and his son Albert Reimann Jr., both of whom are now deceased, had ties to the Third Reich.
  • The JDE Peet's IPO is the second-largest of the year world-wide. Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway Corp. raised $4.4 billion on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in January, Dealogic data shows.
Fabien Simon of the coffee company JDE Peet's beats the gong of Euronext in Amsterdam on May 29, 2020, as the parent company of Douwe Egberts, among others, goes public on the Amsterdam stock exchange. (Photo by Jeroen JUMELET / ANP / AFP)

The Amsterdam-based business sold 14.4% of the company, including to funds controlled by billionaire investor George Soros. It issued new shares worth €700 million ($772.7 million), with existing shareholders, Mondelez International (MDLZ) and Acorn Holdings, selling an additional €1.55 billion ($1.7 billion).

Acorn Holdings is controlled by German investor JAB, the investment firm behind Panera, Pret A Manger, Krispy Kreme and Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP). Acorn is expected to own 62% of JDE Peet's following the listing, with Mondelez retaining 23%, according to a statement.



****
But most consumers still know very little about JAB Holding, the investment firm that pulled off the Peet’s IPO, or the family behind it: the Reimanns of Germany. Many coffee lovers are likely not even aware that one company is the owner or majority owner of Peet’s, Panera, Krispy Kreme, Dr. Pepper Snapple, Keurig Green Mountain, Caribou Coffee, Mighty Leaf, Stumptown, Intelligentsia, Espresso House, Baresso, Au Bon Pain, Bruegger’s Bagels, and Einstein Bros. Bagels.

JAB has spent more than $50 billion since 2014 to gobble up coffee, breakfast, and cosmetics names, and has quietly made itself the largest competitor to Starbucks.

JAB is family owned, privately held, and has roots dating back more than 100 years. The four primary owners of JAB are descendants of German chemist Ludwig Reimann, who in the 1800s married the daughter of his business partner, Johann Adam Benckiser. JAB, formed in 2011, gets its name from Benckiser’s initials.

The family is extremely private and does not do press, though one year ago the company did have to publicly comment on a Bild report about the Reimann family’s ties to the Third Reich. The family acknowledged the facts of the Bild report, and a spokesperson said last year: “It’s all correct. The family was absolutely ashamed.” After the report, the Reimann family said it would donate 10 million euros to a charity and hire a historian to investigate their ancestry in detail for a public report.

JAB will remain the majority shareholder in now-public JDE Peet’s, and is the majority shareholder in publicly traded Keurig Dr Pepper.

In many ways, JAB bears similarities to Anheuser-Busch InBev: a massive conglomerate formed through a long series of voracious M&A.

In 2004, Belgian brewer Interbrew (a combination of Belgian and Canadian brewers, formed in 1988) merged with Brazilian brewer AmBev (a combination of Brazilian and Argentinian brewers, formed in 1999) to form InBev. In 2008, Belgian brewer InBev bought St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch to form Anheuser-Busch InBev. In 2012, AB InBev acquired Grupo Modelo, and in 2016, AB InBev bought SABMiller.

JAB—in a much shorter time—has gone on a similar spending run. JAB has bought or combined around 15 coffee and tea brands between 2012 and 2019, including Douwe Egberts, for which it paid $10 billion.  It bought Peet’s in 2012 for $975 million (and got upmarket American roasters Stumptown and Intelligentsia along with it), Einstein in 2014 for $375 million, Keurig Green Mountain for $14 billion and Krispy Kreme for $1.35 billion in 2016, Panera for $7.5 billion in 2017, and bought Dr. Pepper Snapple through Keurig Green Mountain in 2018.

And JAB isn’t done: now it’s pushing into pet care (but not pet food), beginning with buying Compassion First Pet Hospitals for $1.2 billion last year.

***

The family behind JAB, the Reimanns, is facing scrutiny for its Nazi past, after the German newspaper Bild reported that Albert Reimann Sr. and his son Albert Reimann Jr., both of whom are now deceased, had ties to the Third Reich.

According to Bild, both men were fierce Hitler supporters and anti-Semites, donated to the SS military force, and used forced labor of French prisoners in their factories.

In other words, the Reimann family fortune is rooted in the Nazi party. And that could put the brands in the JAB portfolio under the microscope like never before.

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

ZoomInfo (Nasdaq:ZI) launches initial public offering

ZoomInfo provides  B2B contact and company information to accelerate the growth of sales and marketing teams.
  • HQ: Waltham, Massachusetts, United States
  • Founded: Feb 1, 2000
  • Founders: Kosmas Karadimitriou, Yonatan Stern
  • https://www.zoominfo.com/

Carlyle-backed
Looks to raise about $800 million in Nasdaq listing


(Reuters) - ZoomInfo Technologies Inc expects to raise up to $801 million in its U.S. initial public offering (IPO), as the market for new issues rebounds after the COVID-19 pandemic put several debuts on hold for a couple of months.

The Carlyle-backed business intelligence platform said on Wednesday it expects its offering of 44.5 million shares to be priced between $16 and $18 per class A share, valuing it at $6.89 billion at the top end of the range. (https://bit.ly/2TKplRk)

Some funds and accounts managed by units of BlackRock Inc <BLK.N>, entities related to Dragoneer Investment Group, and Fidelity Management & Research Company have indicated an interest in buying shares worth $100 million each as part of the IPO, ZoomInfo said in a filing.

ZoomInfo follows Warner Music Group, which said on Tuesday it was aiming to sell up to $1.82 billion in stock in its U.S. IPO, potentially the largest New York listing so far in 2020.

The COVID-19 health crisis rocked capital markets and slammed the brakes on several listings in March. The lull, however, is showing signs of waning.

JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley were lead bookrunners for the offering on the Nasdaq stock exchange, ZoomInfo said.

ZoomInfo said its customers in industries most impacted by the pandemic, including retail, restaurant, hotels, airlines and oil and gas may reduce their technology or sales and marketing spending, which could adversely impact its business.

Friday, May 22, 2020

Adaptimmune Therapeutics (ADAP) : positive data on experimental cell therapy

  • The company said that trials of its SPEAR T-cell therapy showed a 50% response rate in patients with synovial sarcoma. The company also reported confirmed responses in lung cancer patients, and had previously reported confirmed responses in head and neck cancer patients. 


 







Adaptimmune Therapeutics presented updated data from its ADP-A2M4 Phase 1 trial at the American Society for Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting


  • New Phase 2 trial in EGJ cancer planned for 1H 2021, after first two patients treated responded to next-generation ADP-A2M4CD8 therapy.
  • Durability and efficacy data presented at ASCO support potential for SPEARHEAD-1 as a registrational trial for sarcoma - commercial launch planned in the US in 2022.
  • Phase 2 trial combining ADP-A2M4 with pembrolizumab in head and neck cancer (SPEARHEAD-2) will be the first time a SPEAR T-cell therapy is used in sequence with first line systemic therapy.
  • The company also announced new responses in the SURPASS trial, confirming the potential for SPEAR T-cell therapies targeting MAGE-A4 to treat a broad range of cancers in addition to sarcoma. These data further support the rationale for two new Phase 2 trials -- SPEARHEAD-2 in head and neck cancer, which will begin later this year, and a second trial in esophagogastric junction (EGJ) cancer planned for 1H 2021.
  • The SURPASS trial (a Phase 1 trial with ADP-A2M4CD8) will focus on lung, EGJ, head and neck, and bladder cancers.
  • Confirmed complete response in a patient with liver cancer in the Phase 1 ADP-A2AFP trial (reported as partial response in January).
  • Thursday, May 21, 2020

    SelectQuote (SLQT) began trading on the NYSE on Thur 21 May 20

    SelectQuote is the first major tech company to go public since the coronavirus began ravaging the stock market. SelectQuote allows consumers to compare quotes for insurance policies online. It is a competitor to EverQuote (EVER), which has seen its stock soar this year.
    • SelectQuote priced upsized 28.5 mln share IPO at $20, above the $17-$19 expected price range. The IPO was originally expected to consist of 25.0 mln shares. In all, the deal raised $570 mln in total gross proceeds.
    • The lead underwriters on the deal were Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Evercore ISI, RBC Capital Markets, Barclays, Citigroup, and Jefferies.



    NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. insurance policy comparison website SelectQuote (SLQT) raised $360 million after selling shares in its initial public offering (IPO) above its target range on Wednesday.

    SelectQuote’s offering is the latest sign of thawing in the IPO market, which was shut to most companies when the coronavirus outbreak fueled weeks of stock market volatility in March and April. Only a handful of biotechnology and blank-check companies went ahead with IPOs during this period.

    Since late February, the Cboe Volatility Index , known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, has been above the 20-point threshold that most IPO hopefuls monitor to gauge investor jitters. But it has trended downwards in recent weeks, giving some companies confidence to test the market.

    SelectQuote allows consumers to compare insurance policies for life, auto and home insurance from providers including American International Group (AIG), Prudential Financial Inc (PRU) and Liberty Mutual.

    The biggest IPO by a company that is neither a biotechnology firm nor special purpose acquisition company since the onset of the pandemic was by Chinese cloud computing company Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd (KC), which raised $510 million in its U.S. stock market debut earlier this month.

    Overland Park, Kansas-based SelectQuote said it sold 18 million shares as planned, and existing shareholders sold 10.5 million shares, up from 7 million, at $20 each as part of the IPO. The company had set a target range of between $17 and $19 per share.

    The IPO valued SelectQuote at $3.25 billion. The pricing of the IPO was brought forward by a day on the back of strong investor demand. Shares of SelectQuote peer EverQuote Inc (EVER) hit a record high earlier this month, after the company increased its full-year revenue and adjusted EBITDA forecast. EverQuote also said it expects the virus outbreak to accelerate the digitization of the insurance industry. While using websites to compare and buy insurance products is commonplace around the world, the U.S. insurance industry has been slower to embrace technology as means of bypassing traditional insurance brokers.

    For the nine months to the end of March, SelectQuote posted $390.1 million in revenue, up almost 50% year on year while net income edged up 2.4% to $61.1 million.

    EverQuote (EVER) : 2-year performance


    Friday, May 15, 2020

    ADC Therapeutics (ADCT) began trading on the NYSE on Fri 15 May 20

    ADC Therapeutics prices upsized 12.45 mln share IPO at $19, above the $16-$18 expected price range
    • The IPO was originally expected to consist of 10.3 mln shares.
    • The lead underwriters on the deal were Morgan Stanley, BofA, and Cowen and Company.

    The funds will be used to complete a pivotal phase II trial of the company’s lead candidate Lonca in patients with the blood cancer diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and ultimately bring the drug to the US market.

    Lausanne-based ADC Therapeutics specializes in the development of antibody-drug conjugates, in which an antibody is attached to a chemotherapy drug. The antibody is designed to selectively bind to tumor cells, and once bound, the drug is internalized by the tumor where it releases its toxic effects. The specificity to the tumor means the treatment minimizes toxicity to healthy cells, reducing potential side-effects.

    The company has a number of other candidates, targeting both blood cancers and solid tumors, in either the preclinical stage or early clinical trials. The funds raised from the IPO will also be used to further the development of these products.

    Despite closing a €271M ($303M) Series E funding round in July 2019, adverse market conditions in October 2019 led ADC Therapeutics to withdraw its Nasdaq IPO.


    The biotech’s IPO accompanies a €106M loan agreement made with the US firm Deerfield Management Company at the beginning of this month. Of the total loan, ADC Therapeutics can expect €60M upon completing its IPO, and another €46M once Lonca gets regulatory approval, amongst other conditions.  

    DraftKings (DKNG) reported earnings on Fri 15 May 20 (b/o)

    • Flying Eagle (FEAC) launched the Draft Kings (DKNG) IPO at $9 on April 24.
    • First pure play in sports betting
    ** charts after earnings **








     DraftKings reports Q1 results; beats on EPS, reports revs +30% yr/yr
    • DKNG reports Q1 GAAP loss per share of $0.04 (vs -$0.16 consensus)
    • Co notes Revenue grew 30%, despite COVID-19

    Friday, May 8, 2020

    Kingsoft Cloud (KC) began trading on the Nasdaq on Fri 8 May 2020

    Chinese cloud computing company Kingsoft Cloud Holdings Ltd raised $510 million in its U.S initial public offering, the first Chinese company to list in the United States since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak sent markets tumbling.
    • Kingsoft Cloud (KC) closes its first U.S. trading day up 38% to $23.49.
    • The company priced 30M ADS at $17 each, raising $510M in the offering at a roughly $3.7B valuation. The company originally planned to sell 25M shares but increased the size due to demand.
    • Spun off from software giant Kingsoft.  KC competes with cloud services from tech giants Alibaba (BABA) and Tencent (TCEHY). Alibaba controls nearly half of China's cloud market and Tencent has about a fifth.
    • Like other cloud services companies, Kingsoft Cloud could benefit from the new normal of remote working, gaming and learning online. While China's cloud market is only 4% of the global total, it is growing fast.
    • Kingsoft Cloud boasts some heavy hitters as clients, including smartphone maker Xiaomi and ByteDance, the Beijing-based startup behind popular apps TikTok and Douyin. ByteDance has seen huge user growth and a record revenue haul during the pandemic.
    • Kingsoft Cloud's chairman, Lei Jun, is no stranger to buzzy public offerings. He is the founder of smartphone maker Xiaomi, which raised $4.7 billion in a highly anticipated public offering in Hong Kong in 2018.
    The cloud service provider had planned to sell 25 million shares but increased the size of the deal to 30 million on Friday on the back of better than expected demand from shareholders, parent company Kingsoft Corp said in a statement on Friday.

    The deal represented 13.9% of the company's issued capital and was priced at $17 per share, in the middle of its expected range, valuing the Xiaomi-backed group at $3.7 billion.

    Loss-making Kingsoft offers cloud infrastructure as well as enterprise cloud and artificial intelligence services.

    Cloud computing has so far been one of the sectors boosted by the novel coronavirus outbreak as it drives more businesses to operate digitally and rely on cloud computing.

    The value of the company will rise if a so called 'greenshoe' option is exercised and an extra 4.5 million shares are sold within the next 30 days by the banks which underwrote the deal.


    Existing shareholders Kingsoft Group, Xiaomi and Carmignac Gestion anchored the IPO, with Kingsoft buying up to $25 million of the stock offered, and Xiaomi and Carmignac buying up to $50 million each, Kingsoft said.

    Kingsoft is the first major U.S. IPO by a company that is neither a biotechnology firm nor special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) since Canadian waste management company GFL Environmental in early March. Biotech and SPAC IPOs are typically immune to broader market swings.

    Ayala Pharmaceuticals (AYLA) began trading on the Nasdaq on Fri 8 May 2020

    Ayala Pharmaceuticals, a Phase 2 biotech developing in-licensed Notch inhibitors for aggressive cancers, raised $55 million by offering 3.7 million shares at $15, the midpoint of the $14 to $16 range.
    The biotech raised 10% more than expected; it originally filed to offer 3.3 million shares.


    Rehovot, Israel-based Ayala was founded to to develop treatments for various cancers:
    • Recurrent/Metastatic Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma
    • Triple Negative Breast Cancer
    • Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
    • Desmoid, soft tissue tumors
    A brief overview video of adenoid cystic carcinoma.

    Management is headed by Chief Executive Officer Roni Mamluk, Ph.D., who has been with the firm since 2017 and was previously CEO at biopharmaceutical firm Chiasma and head of preclinical development of an oncology product at Adnexus Therapeutics.

    Tuesday, May 5, 2020

    Lyra Therapeutics (LYRA) began trading on the Nasdaq on Mon 4 May 2020

    Lyra Therapeutics (LYRA) has priced its IPO of 3.5M common shares at $16/share, yielding gross proceeds of $56M.

    Underwriters' over-allotment is an additional 525,000 shares.



  • https://lyratherapeutics.com/



  • The company is advancing two drug candidates for the treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis.

    LYRA has produced very promising trial results and the IPO appears reasonably valued, so for life science investors with a 12 - 18-month hold time frame, the IPO looks quite interesting.

    Company & Technology
    Watertown, Massachusetts-based Lyra was founded to develop drug treatments for two types of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis, those who are 'surgically-naive' and those who have been previously operated on for the condition.

    Management is headed by Maria Palasis, Ph.D., who has been with the firm since 2011 and was previously EVP at Arsenal Medical.

    A brief overview video of chronic rhinosinusitis:

    Ayala Pharmaceuticals (AYLA) sets IPO terms

    Ayala Pharmaceuticals (AYLA) has filed an updated preliminary prospectus for its IPO of ~3.3M common shares at $14 - 16 per share.
    Underwriters' over-allotment will be up to an additional 500K shares.

    The Rehovet, Israel-based biopharmaceutical outfit develops treatments for rare and aggressive cancers by leveraging its bioinformatics platform and next-gen sequencing.

    https://www.ayalapharma.com/

    Monday, May 4, 2020

    IPOs this week : May 4 - 8, 20 (wk 19)

    IPO lockup expirations
    • Q&K International Group (NASDAQ:QK) and Atif Holdings (NASDAQ:ATIF) on May 4, 
    • Galera Therapeutics (NASDAQ:GRTX), Centogene (NASDAQ:CNTG) and Silvergate Capital (NYSE:SI) on May 5, as well as 
    • Tela Bio (NASDAQ:TELA), Ecmoho (NASDAQ:MOHO), 36Kr Holdings (NASDAQ:KRKR) and CNS Pharma (NASDAQ:CNSP) on May 6. 
    Of those names, Centogene has the largest IPO gains with a 36% break higher.

    Friday, May 1, 2020

    Vontier withdraws estimated $1 billion IPO

    Vontier, the global industrial company focused on transportation and mobility carved out of Fortive, withdrew its plans for an initial public offering on Thursday after delaying in the 1Q20, citing recent market and economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. It originally filed in February 2020 with a proposed deal size of $100 million, though we estimated the deal size would be closer to $1 billion.

    Vontier provides critical equipment, components, software, and services to the mobility and transportation markets. Its major product groups are mobility technologies (77% of FY19 revenue) and repair and diagnostics technologies (23%). Its customers include retail and commercial fueling operators, commercial vehicle repair businesses, municipal governments, public safety entities, and fleet owners and operators across 30 countries.

    Parent Fortive (NYSE: FTV) reported quarterly earnings on Thursday. The company's Industrial Technologies segment, which roughly represents Vontier, saw sales remain flat year-over-year at $609 million, while operating income dropped from $99 million (16.1% margin) to -$2 million (-0.2%).

    The Raleigh, NC-based company traces its roots to 1986 and booked $2.8 billion in revenue for the 12 months ended December 31, 2019. It had planned to list on the NYSE under the symbol VNT. Goldman Sachs was set to be the sole bookrunner on the deal.