IPO News This Week: Little Action Last Week, but That Will Change Soon

Last week’s initial public offering (IPO) action saw one of two scheduled listings make its entry into the public markets. The single IPO raised a total of $26 million in new capital. The coming week includes two blank-check offerings and one holdover biotech seeking a total of $216 million, one a first-timer and one a holdover from last week.

Nine firms filed for IPOs last week and all will be eligible to enter the public market immediately following the Labor Day holiday. The most interesting are NIO, a Chinese maker of all-electric vehicles, that is seeking $1.8 billion in its U.S. IPO, and U.S. steelmaker Zekelman Industries which will be looking to raise $1 billion.

First a brief review of last week’s successful offerings.

Aridis Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDS) raised $26 million selling 2 million shares at $13, the low-end of the expected price range. Shares closed flat on their first day of trading and closed the week down 1%.

Hong Kong-based blank-check company TKK Symphony Acquisition (NASDAQ: TKKSU) sold 22 million units at $10 to raise $220 million.

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Through the week ending August 10, IPO ETF manager Renaissance Capital reported that 133 IPOs have priced in the U.S. so far this year, up about 45% year over year. Total proceeds raised through last week equaled $34.4 billion, up about 55% year over year.

For 2017, Renaissance Capital reported a total of 160 IPOs, up 52% year over year from 105 in 2016. Total 2017 proceeds amounted to $35.5 billion compared with a 2016 total of $18.8 billion. Renaissance Capital does not include “best efforts” or blank-check companies in its totals, nor does it include IPOs that raise less than $10 million.

Here is the single, IPO on this week’s agenda that is not a blank-check company.

Bionano Genomics Inc., a life sciences instrumentation maker selling a proprietary system for next-generation genome analysis, delayed its IPO for the second time last week. The company plans to offer 2.5 million shares (down from 5.5 million) in an expected price range of $6 to $7 (up from $5 to $6) to raise $16 million (down from $30 million) at a market cap of $55 million (down from $85 million). Underwriters are Roth Capital, Maxim Group LLC, and LifeSci Capital. Shares are listed only as “week of” and will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol BNGO.

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