Category Archives: The IPO Buzz

Upon hearing that there are 22 IPOs on this week’s new-issues calendar, a veteran syndicate manager commented, “Just like old times.” Well, maybe so, but facts show we have a long way to go before the “good old days” return.

From the streets of Hong Kong to America’s financial TV Land, last week’s buzz was about the Alibaba.com $1.5 billion IPO. Like many hot issues, millions were shut out from getting a piece of China’s huge, hot IPO, including Americans. The later was not a case of: “Yankee! Go home.” It was the Securities Act of 1933 that got in the way.

Friday’s single-day drop of nearly 367 points in the Dow Jones Industrial Average was significant. In the short run, it might slow down the IPO Express, but won’t derail it.

Wall Street’s bankers have reached across the U.S. borders to include a couple of foreign companies among the 11 IPOs on this week’s calendar. Should things go as planned, they will raise nearly $2.1 billion and, in the process, could pocket nearly $150 million in underwriting fees for themselves. Not a bad week, but what about the customers?

There were whispers coming from Wall Street’s syndicate desks late this summer that the IPO market was gearing up for a busy fall. Six weeks later, it’s happening. Last week’s new-issue traffic was full of confirmations, and this week’s calendar stands ready to deliver.

Chinese IPOs have grabbed a lot of headlines lately, such as the China Construction Bank IPO hitting the new-issues cash register for $7.7 billion in Shanghai last week. Halfway around the world at the corner of Broad and Wall Streets, Chinese IPOs have been minting money for American investors. Here’s what the media has missed.

This week’s IPO, athenahealth, has been billed by many as “hot, hot, hot.” It is — assuming it gets priced within its original filing range. But it isn’t the only pony in the IPO stable.

 

The fashionistas flocked to Bryant Park for New York’s semi-annual fashion show last week. About four miles south, Wall Street was the setting of the post-Labor Day IPO show. There was one deal. The paparazzi ignored it.

The Summer of ‘07 was not a good one for the stock market. On the other hand, the IPO market had a good summer and tech IPOs had a great one.