Thursday Jun 11 2020 13:49
3 min
Although there have only been a few so far in 2020, recent IPOs have proven just how much pent-up investor demand there is.
It took a while for the IPO market to come back online in 2020, with the coronavirus pandemic slamming the brakes on many planned stock market debuts. But recent IPOs have shown that the demand has not gone away. Many of the companies who have gone public have seen an explosion of interest in their stock.
In fact, according to Renaissance Capital, the first week of June was the first time in two years that all the IPOs held raised more than original expected, whether because they ended up pricing above their target range, or because they increased the number of shares on offer.
JDE Peet held Europe’s largest IPO since 2018 when it went public at the end of May. The world’s second-largest packaged coffee maker raised nearly €2.3 billion. The investor roadshow was held virtually and it took just three days to sell all the shares – usually company management has to travel the world for at least a fortnight to meet investors and drum up interest.
ZoomInfo surged on its stock market debut. The company sold 44.5 million shares at $21 per share – above its target price range, which itself had been revised higher from an earlier range of $16-$18.
But even at the higher price investors snapped up the stock, causing it to open 90% higher on its first day of trading, with the first trade recorded at $40. This pushed the company’s market cap up from $8 billion to $14 billion.
The company sold 77 million shares – up 7 million from what was originally planned – at a price of $25 per share. This gave the company a market capitalisation of roughly $12.7 billion, and early trading on the day of the IPO saw this valuation surge 15% to just under $15 billion.
The company had initially signalled its intentions to go public in February, but the coronavirus pandemic meant this had to be delayed.
Pliant had to double its share offering ahead of its IPO at the start of June, with the company raising $144 million against initial plans for $86 million. The company has said the proceeds of the floatation will last it until 2023.
Vroom raced higher when the stock went public on June 9th. The company prices its IPO at $22 per share, raising just under $500 million, giving it a valuation of $2.5 billion. The stock surged over 100% on the first day of trading, hitting $45.
Some of these IPOs have seen huge demand, but there’s still plenty more to come – check out the biggest 2020 IPOs investors can’t wait for.