Bojangles IPO Sops Up the Gravy

Photo of Paul Ausick
By Paul Ausick Updated Published
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Bojangles IPO
Bojangles' Inc.
Bojangles’ Inc. (NASDAQ: BOJA) priced its initial public offering (IPO) of 7.75 million shares at $19 a share on Thursday, and the stock began trading Friday morning. Shares traded as high as $27 shortly after the stock became available, up more than 40% from the IPO price.

The IPO share price was above the original expected range of $15 to $17 and at the high end of the revised range of $18 to $19 per share. The company also increased the number of shares from an original plan of 6.25 million.

At the IPO, the company’s fully diluted market cap is $750 million, according to IPO ETF manager Renaissance Capital. The company’s enterprise value is $993 million. Private equity firm Advent International will retain ownership of about 74% of the company, which it acquired in 2011.

Bojangles’ is a 38-year old chain of 258 company-owned and 377 franchised limited-service restaurants with key markets in the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee. Restaurants are located in 10 states, the District of Columbia and Honduras. Restaurants feature Southern cooking and include an all-day breakfast menu.

Joint bookrunners for the IPO included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Securities, Jefferies, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Piper Jaffray, William Blair, KeyBanc Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets. Co-managers are Stephens and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Underwriters have a 30-day option on an additional 1.16 million shares.

Bojangles’ IPO follows that of Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE: SHAK), which was one of the top five offerings in the first quarter of 2015. Shake Shack originally planned to offer 5 million shares in price range of $14 to $16, but demand for the shares was so high that the IPO range was raised to $17 to $19 and finally priced at $21 a share. Shares got a first day pop of 118.6%.

Bojangles’ stock traded up about 43% at $27.18 shortly after trading began Friday morning, with more than 2.8 million shares already having changed hands.

ALSO READ: Fitbit Confirms IPO Ambitions

Photo of Paul Ausick
About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.

Continue Reading

Top Gaining Stocks

CBOE Vol: 1,568,143
PSKY Vol: 12,285,993
STX Vol: 7,378,346
ORCL Vol: 26,317,675
DDOG Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ Vol: 4,367,433
CLX Vol: 13,260,523
SYK Vol: 4,519,455
MHK Vol: 1,859,865
AMGN Vol: 3,818,618