Category Archives: The IPO Buzz

Last week’s IPO market had its share of thrills and spills among the 14 new issues that made their debuts. Of the bookend deals — the best and the worst –- each traded on the New York Stock Exchange and each had Goldman Sachs’ name on the prestigious left-hand side of their prospectuses.

This week’s IPO calendar boils down to one word: Busy.

An Arctic blast swept through town last week and sent chills through the streets of New York City. The weather didn’t phase the buildup of the secondary and IPO calendars. But a few of the deals did get a cold shoulder or two from investors. Not everything got priced.

 

This week’s new-issues calendar is starting to look more like a stampede than a cavalry charge. There are nearly 20 deals thundering down the home stretch. It includes secondary offerings, closed-end funds and IPOs. And the IPOs range from drones to fertilizers to blank checks.

Legacy Reserves LP (NASDAQ: LGCY), an independent oil and gas limited partnership, was 2007’s first IPO. The deal was priced last week, opened flat and rallied in the aftermarket. It closed its opening day with a 6.84 percent gain.

Once upon a time, there was a race track in lower Manhattan. It was called IPO Downs. The betting was fast and furious and when bettors didn’t know the horse, they’d bet on the jockey. Things haven’t changed much over the years.

When Father Time closed the door on 2006, the numbers for the year’s IPO market were similar to 2005’s. At the Labor Day break, that didn’t seem possible. On Sept. 1, the year’s IPO traffic was well behind a year ago.

 

Last week’s IPO market left a few footprints in the sand and a few broken records.

 

The IPO juggernaut just keeps rolling through December. Eighteen deals were priced last week, and bankers plan to price another 11 deals this week. This surge puts 2006 on course to surpass last year’s IPO traffic.

 

A handful of IPOs exploded in Friday’s market much like an eruption from a smoldering volcano. They scored an average opening-day gain of nearly 40 percent. But the event that led up to Friday’s fireworks didn’t just happen overnight.