Dismal IPO Debuts: Britannia Bulk & RHI Entertainment (DWT, RHIE)

Today’s IPO activity resembles on of two things: 1) summer isn’t a good time to come pblic, or 2) teh IPO just stinks right now.  We had two separate IPO’s come to market in highly under-publicized debuts: Britannia Bulk Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DWT) and RHI Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: RHIE).  Both companies had poor IPO pricings and both companies saw their stocks list lower after opening for trading.

Britannia Bulk Holdings Inc. (NYSE: DWT) priced its 8.333 million share IPO at $15.00, and shares opened down around $14.25 and has traded around there most of the day.  Goldman Sachs and Banc of America were the leads on the deal, but the original price range was $17.00 to $19.00 at the filing. Brtitannia is a London-based international drybulk shipping and maritime logistics services provider with a focus on transporting drybulk commodities in and out of the Baltic region.

RHI Entertainment Inc. (NASDAQ: RHIE) priced its 13.5 million share IPO at $14.00 per share, which was also lower than its $16.00 to $18.00 announced price range from lead underwriters JPMorgan and Banc of America.  Shares are now down at $13.35 today with some 2.7 million shares having traded.  RHI develops, produces and distributes new made-for-TV movies, miniseries and other television programming worldwide, and is the leading provider of new long-form television content in the U.S.

This may have been the most quiet day this year for a day we had two IPO’s come to market.  It’s also a harbinger of what to expect for this summer.

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If you think that the post-IPO market is totally dead, we actually found several IPO’s that are up more than 50% from their offering earlier in the year.

Jon C. Ogg
June 18, 2008