Nextracker Inc. (NXT) priced its upsized IPO at $24.00 – $1.00 above the top of its $20.00-to-$23.00 range – tonight (Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2023) on 26.6 million shares to raise $638.4 million, Nextracker’s parent, Flex, Ltd. said. The solar tracker company’s IPO was increased by 3.34 million shares – or about 14.4 percent – from the 23.26 million shares in the prospectus. This is the biggest IPO of the year. It’s also the biggest IPO since Mobileye Global (MBLY) went public in late October.

The pricing of Nextracker’s IPO was accelerated to tonight – moved up a night from its original spot on Thursday night’s schedule.

Nextracker’s stock is expected to start trading on Thursday (Feb. 9, 2023) on the NASDAQ.

J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, Citigroup and Barclays were the joint lead book-running managers of Nextracker’s IPO. Truist Securities, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Mizuho, Scotiabank and KeyBanc Capital Markets served as joint book-runners.

SMBC Nikko, BTIG, UniCredit, Roth Capital Partners and Craig-Hallum were the co-managers of Nextracker’s IPO.

Nextracker’s IPO received a warm reception from IPO investors at launch – thanks to its profitability and investors’ enthusiasm for the solar energy sector.

Stay tuned.

(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.

Solar tracker company Nextracker Inc. (NXT proposed) leads a $1.1 billion IPO Calendar this week of four big deals – three IPOs in the $100 million-and-up class and one big NASDAQ uplisting. Israel’s Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd. (ENLT proposed), a NASDAQ uplisting from Tel Aviv, launched early today (Monday, Feb. 6, 2023). (Editor’s Note: This update corrects the column published earlier today to show that Enlight Renewable Energy is NOT an IPO. Enlight’s stock already trades on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.)

Nextracker Inc., with estimated IPO proceeds of $500 million, is the biggest traditional IPO since Mobileye Global (MBLY) raised $861 million when it went public in late October. Nextracker disclosed updated financial statements, including projected revenue and net income, in an SEC filing early today.

The U.S. IPO market has not seen a $1 billion-plus week since Corebridge Financial (CRBG) priced its $1.68 billion IPO last September. 

Enlight Renewable Energy disclosed terms early today for its public offering in connection with its NASDAQ uplisting from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Enlight plans to offer 14 million ordinary shares at US$20.96 to raise $293.4 million, according to its F-1/A filing dated Feb. 6, 2023. The assumed public offering price – US$20.96 – was the stock’s closing price on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023 – on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, the prospectus says. Enlight’s public offering is set for pricing late in the week.

J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, Barclays, Credit Suisse, Wolfe Nomura and HSBC are the joint book-runners of Enlight Renewable Energy’s public offering. Roth Capital Partners is the co-manager.

Two more big IPOs are on this week’s IPO runway: Hesai Group (HSAI proposed), a  Chinese LiDAR products company, with estimated IPO proceeds of $162 million, and Mineralys Therapeutics (MLYS proposed), a U.S. biotech developing a drug to treat uncontrolled and resistant hypertension, with estimated IPO proceeds of $150 million.

Hesai Group is set to price its IPO on Wednesday night (Feb. 8, 2023) to trade Thursday (Feb. 9, 2023) on the NASDAQ.

Nextracker (NXT proposed) is now expected to price on Wednesday night (Feb. 8, 2023) as well for a NASDAQ trading debut on Thursday.

Mineralys Therapeutics’  IPO is scheduled for pricing on Thursday night (Feb. 9, 2023), along with Enlight’s public offering. Both deals are expected to start trading Friday (Feb. 10, 2023) on the NASDAQ.

Lichen China (LICN) Drops in NASDAQ Debut

Shares of Lichen China (LICN) fell 2.5 percent – or 10 cents – from their $4.00 IPO price to open at $3.90 at 11:43 a.m. EST today (Monday, Feb. 6, 2023) on the NASDAQ on volume of  about 1 million shares. The stock later slid to $3.19, down about 20.25 percent from its IPO price. Lichen China closed its first day of trading at $3.50, down 50 cents or 12.5 percent from its IPO price. It goes into the IPO log as a broken deal, opening and closing below its IPO price.

Lichen China trimmed its IPO just a touch and priced it at US$4.00, as expected, with 4.0 million shares priced to raise $16.0 million, the company announced early today (Feb. 6, 2023). The IPO was slimmed down to 4.0 million shares from 4.5 million shares in the prospectus. Univest Securities was the sole book-runner.

Lichen’s Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company issued the shares in the IPO – and not the underlying Chinese business. The operating company, based in Jinjiang, has provided financial and tax services in China for more than 17 years, according to the prospectus.

Lichen China’s IPO had been on and off the pricing roster since last September, when the NASDAQ increased its scrutiny of small-cap IPOs and brought the flow of micro-cap deals almost to a halt.

Bankers may price another nine micro-cap IPOs this week. If all nine of those tiny deals get done, bankers would raise another $91 million. The week’s total proceeds from micro-cap deals would reach $107 million, including Lichen China.

Stay tuned.

(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.

More, please. Structure Therapeutics Inc. (GPCR) shares surged 73.3 percent to close at $26.00 – up $11.00 from their $15.00 IPO price – on Friday (Feb. 3, 2023), their first day of trading on the NASDAQ. Volume today: 1,779,507 shares. Structure defied gravity in terms of the overall trend on Wall Street today. Structure’s stock shot up 67 percent to open at $25.00 – up $10.00 from their $15.00 IPO price – at 11:01 a.m. EST today in their NASDAQ debut. A minute later, the stock popped above $27 to its session high. By 11:27 a.m. EST, Structure Therapeutics’ stock traded at $27.00 – up 80 percent from its IPO price on volume of about 488,000 shares. As it turns out, upsizing the Type 2 diabetes and obesity drug developer’s IPO didn’t hurt at all.

Structure’s bankers added 1.79 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) at pricing – and priced the 10.74-million-ADS deal at $15.00 – the top of its $13.00-to-$15.00 range. (The prospectus had called for 8.95 million ADS.)  The upsizing and high-end pricing reflect the strong demand for Structure’s IPO. The increase in the IPO’s size – and Structure’s surge in its opening trade – indicate the hunger of IPO investors for a traditional IPO with enough luster to deliver some dollars right out of the gate.

Jefferies, SVB Leerink, Guggenheim Partners and BMO Capital Markets were the joint book-runners of Structure Therapeutics, Inc.’s IPO.

Mineralys Therapeutics (MLYS proposed) is the next big biotech IPO in the wings. The anti-hypertension drug developer’s IPO is set for pricing late next week. Mineralys Therapeutics plans to offer 10 million shares at $14.00 to $16.00 to raise $150.0 million.

BofA Securities is leading the joint book-runners’ team for the Mineralys IPO. The line-up includes Evercore ISI, Stifel, Guggenheim Securities, Credit Suisse and Wells Fargo.

Stay tuned.

(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.

Structure Therapeutics (GPCR) priced its upsized IPO at $15.00 – the top of its $13.00-to-$15.00 range – on 10.74 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) – up from 8.95 million ADS in the prospectus – on Thursday night (Feb. 2, 2023). The IPO was increased in size at pricing. The stock is expected to start trading Friday (Feb. 3, 2023) on the NASDAQ.

Structure’s IPO raised $161.1 million – or 28.6 percent more than the  estimated IPO proceeds of $125.3 million, based on mid-point pricing at $14.00.

Jefferies, SVB Leerink, Guggenheim Securities and BMO Capital Markets are the joint book-runners.

This is the first big biotech IPO of the year.

Structure’s pricing came on the heels of positive buzz about the IPO and a heady day on Wall Street. The NASDAQ jumped 384.5 points – or 3.25 percent – to close at 12,200.82 after rising more than 4 percent from its December low earlier in the day – and moving toward a bull market, as Bloomberg reported. The S&P 500 gained as much as 1.9 percent during the day before pulling back to end at 4,179.46, up 1.47 percent. The stock market’s rally was driven by expectations that the Federal Reserve may be nearing the end of its rate-hike cycle and Meta Platforms Inc.’s (META) biggest gain since 2013.

Early today, the second big biotech IPO of 2023 hit the launch button. Mineralys Therapeutics (MLYS proposed), a clinical biotech developing an anti-hypertension drug, disclosed terms for its $150 million IPO – 10 million shares at $14.00 to $16.00 – and set a pricing date for next week. BofA Securities, Evercore ISI, Stifel, Guggenheim Securities, Credit Suisse and Wells Fargo Securities are the joint book-runners of the Mineralys IPO.

Targeting Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity

Structure Therapeutics, a South San Francisco-based clinical biotech with drug R&D operations in Shanghai, is targeting Type 2 diabetes and obesity with its oral small molecule drug candidate called GSBR-1290. The drug candidate is from the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) therapeutic target class.

GSBR-1290 – its leading drug candidate – is being evaluated in a Phase 1b clinical trial that began in January. The company expects to transition that study to a Phase 2a clinical trial in the second half of 2023. The goal is to release topline clinical trial data during the second half of the year, the prospectus says.

Principal shareholders of Structure Therapeutics include Sequoia Capital China, with a pre-IPO stake of 10.3 percent; BVF Partners, with a pre-IPO stake of 9.6 percent; ERVC Healthcare IV, with a pre-IPO stake of 8.5 percent, and F-Prime Capital Partners, with a pre-IPO stake of 7.5 percent.

“Since our inception, we have raised $198.0 million, supported by a syndicate of leading global investors, including BVF Partners, Deep Track Capital, Eight Roads Ventures, F-Prime Capital Partners, Qiming Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital China,” the prospectus says. .

The company, formerly known as ShouTi, Inc., was formed in 2016, the prospectus says. Its co-founder and CEO, Ray Stevens, Ph.D., is “a world-renowned pioneer in the field of structure-based drug discovery,” the prospectus says. He co-founded the company with Schrodinger, “a pioneering company in computational physics-based drug design,” according to the prospectus.

Structure Therapeutics has not generated any revenue, according to the prospectus. The company reported a net loss of $52.7 million on no revenue for the last 12 months.

(For more information about this company, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profile found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.

It looks like the big boys – and girls – want to follow the sun. Nextracker Inc. (NXT proposed) launched its $500 million IPO late Wednesday (Feb. 1, 2023) after the market’s close. The solar tracker company’s IPO has a joint book-runner’s team chock full of big names. J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, Citigroup and Barclays are the first four names on the prospectus. The book-runners’ list includes these familiar names from Wall Street’s fraternity: Truist Securities, HSBC, BNP Paribas, Mizuho, Scotiabank and KeyBanc Capital Markets. SMBC Nikko, BTIG, UniCredit, Roth Capital Partners and Craig-Hallum are the co-managers.

Nextracker plans to offer about 23.26 million shares at $20 to $23 to raise $500 million. The Nextracker IPO is scheduled to price next week – on Thursday night (Feb. 9, 2023) to trade Friday, Feb. 10. This is a NASDAQ listing.

The size of Nextracker’s IPO – $500 million – matches the size of a minority stake that its parent, Flex Ltd., sold a year ago to TPG Rise Climate, the climate-focused investment arm of the global private equity powerhouse, TPG. (For more details on the Nextracker-Flex-TPG dance, read the prospectus – and have a glass of your favorite beverage handy. It’s not  light beach reading.)

BlackRock, Bright Sun

BlackRock, Inc. and Norges Bank Investment Management have indicated an interest in buying up to an aggregate of $100 million – or 20 percent – of Nextracker’s IPO.

Based in  Fremont, California, Nextracker describes itself as a leading provider of intelligent integrated solar tracker and software solutions used in utility-scale and ground-mounted distributed generation solar projects around the world.

The trackers make it possible for solar panels to turn and follow the sun.

“Our products enable solar panels in utility-scale power plants to follow the sun’s movement across the sky and optimize plant performance,” Nextracker says in its prospectus. “We have led the solar industry based on gigawatts (“GW”) shipped globally in 2015 and both globally and in the United States from 2016 to 2021.”

All those gigawatts add up to green stuff in the bank: Net income of $50.9 million on revenue of about $1.46 billion for the last 12 months, according to financial statements in the prospectus.

Flex Time

Nextracker’s parent company, Flex Ltd., will control Nextracker after the IPO, the prospectus says.

“Immediately after this offering,” the prospectus says, “Flex Ltd., our parent company, will own, indirectly through one or more subsidiaries, 90.76% of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock, representing 65.96% of our total outstanding shares of common stock (or 63.56% of our total outstanding shares of common stock if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock) and, so long as it owns a controlling interest in our common stock, it will be able to control any action requiring the general approval of our stockholders, including the election and removal of directors, any amendments to our certificate of incorporation and the approval of any merger or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. Accordingly, we will be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance rules of Nasdaq. See “Risk factors—Risks related to the Transactions and our relationship with Flex,” “Management—controlled company exemption” and “Principal stockholders.””

Nextracker breaks it down a little more with this paragraph, packed with lingo that only a lawyer could love:

“We will be a holding company and, upon the completion of this offering, our principal asset will consist of LLC Common Units that we acquire from a subsidiary of Flex Ltd. with the proceeds from this offering and common units issued to us in connection with the merger of certain blocker corporations, representing 26.75% of the total economic interest in the LLC (as defined herein) (or 29.17% if the underwriters exercise in full their option to purchase additional shares of Class A common stock). The remaining economic interest in the LLC will be owned by subsidiaries of Flex Ltd. and TPG Rise Flash, L.P. through their ownership of LLC Common Units.”

News of Nextracker’s IPO launch broke after the U.S. stock market’s close today (Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023). The Street is likely to have plenty to say about this one after the sun comes up tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.

First IPO out of the gate in February is a Taiwan-focused SPAC. Cetus Capital Acquisition Corp. (CETUU) started trading at 10:45 a.m. EST today –Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023 – at $10.13, up 1.3 percent from its $10.00-per-unit IPO price, NASDAQ records show. Volume on that opening trade: 165,968 shares. By 11:54 a.m. EST, Cetus Capital Acquisition’s stock was up 1.9 percent at $10.19 – just a penny below its session high of $10.20 – on volume of 2,145,991 shares. At the close, Cetus Capital was at $10.18 – up 18 cents or 1.8 percent for its first day of trading. Cetus Capital Acquisition’s strong debut is a ray of sunshine in the gloomy skies of the SPAC universe. E.F. Hutton was the sole book-runner. Meanwhile, Wall Street’s attention was focused on two things: (1) The Fed, as expected, raised the fed funds rate today by 25 basis points, which continued the slower pace that began at its December meeting – and (2) the year’s first big biotech IPO. Structure Therapeutics Inc. (GPCR proposed) is set to price its $125.3 million IPO on Thursday night (Feb. 2, 2023) for a Friday (Feb. 3, 2023) debut on the NASDAQ. Jefferies, SVB Leerink, Guggenheim Securities and BMO Capital Markets are the joint book-runners of Structure Therapeutics’ IPO. 

Two micro-cap IPOs with ties to Asia – Lichen China (LICN proposed) and Lead Real Estate Co., Ltd. (LRE proposed) – are playing the NASDAQ waiting game. The word on the Street is that Lichen China has been momentarily delayed; some see the Chinese financial and tax service provider’s IPO pricing tonight, while others think it’s more likely that this deal will get priced next week. Wall Street pros say that Lead Real Estate Co. Ltd., a Tokyo-based developer of luxury single-family homes and condominiums in Japan and Dallas, may price its IPO tonight. Others see Lead Real Estate’s IPO pricing as more likely tomorrow night to trade Friday (Feb. 3).

When the Size Is Right

Size matters. And sometimes small is just right. Cetus Capital Acquisition’s IPO was small – just 5.0 million units at $10.00 each to raise $50.0 million – priced on Tuesday night, Jan. 31, 2023, in sync with the terms in its prospectus. The SPAC IPO was downsized from 6.0 million units, according to an S-1/A filing on Jan. 19, 2023.  Each unit consists of one share of Class A common stock, one warrant to buy one share of Class A common stock, and one right to receive one-sixth (1/6) of one share of common stock upon consummation of Cetus Capital Acquisition’s initial business combination.

In the IPO log book, Cetus Capital Acquisition goes down as the last deal priced in January 2023. But the stats for Cetus Capital Acquisition’s IPO belong to February due to the deal’s trade date on Feb. 1, 2023. The only other SPAC IPO priced so far this year is Israel Acquisitions Corp. (ISRLU).

Taiwan’s industrial and IT companies are on Cetus Capital Acquisition’s shopping list.

“We intend to focus our search for a target business in the industrials, information technology and Internet-of-Things industries with an intention to initially prioritize Taiwan, and we will not consider or undertake a business combination with an entity or business that is based in, or has its principal business operations in, the People’s Republic of China, including Hong Kong and Macau,” the prospectus says.

Chung-Yi Sun, CEO, president and chairman of the board of Cetus Capital Acquisition, is a managing director of AWinner Limited, an investment firm focused on breakthrough information technology companies, the prospectus says. Sun also has served since June 2010 as an assistant vice president of Lite-On Green Technologies, Inc., a Taiwan-based green technology company. He has more than 20 years of experience in the high technology, energy and automobile industries. 

Cheng-Nan Wu, CFO, secretary, treasurer and a director nominee of Cetus Capital Acquisition, has served since February 2019 as the general manager assistant for overall planning of financial systems and financial strategic planning at Hotai Motor Co., Ltd., a Taiwan-based and publicly listed company that is principally engaged in the distribution of motor vehicles and relevant parts. 

A Promising January

A slight warming trend ran through the IPO market in January. The successful IPOs of Skyward Specialty Insurance (SKWD) and TXO Energy Partners, L.P. (TXO) gave IPO investors  reasons to hope that 2023 may be a better year than the shellshock of 2022. Bankers priced 10 deals in January 2023 – seven IPOs, one tiny uplisting – public offering and two SPAC IPOs – to raise about $492 million.

The pipeline was the place to look for encouragement. Eight companies filed plans to go public in January via traditional IPOs with estimated IPO proceeds of $100 million each. Big investment banks began to slide back onto the IPO dance floor.

Stay tuned.

(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.

Whoosh! Structure Therapeutics, Inc. (GPCR proposed) disclosed terms for its $125.3 million IPO early today (Monday, Jan. 30, 2023) and jumped onto the IPO Calendar. This deal – the first big biotech IPO of the year –  is scheduled to price Thursday night (Feb. 2, 2023) to trade Friday (Feb. 3, 2023) on the NASDAQ. In terms of the number of shares, the IPO’s size is fairly modest: 8.95 million American Depositary Shares (ADS) at $13.00 to $15.00. Jefferies, SVB Leerink, Guggenheim Securities and BMO Capital Markets are the joint book-runners.

Structure Therapeutics is a Cayman Islands-incorporated company with a South San Francisco address. The clinical biopharmaceutical company’s initial focus is on G-protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs, as a therapeutic target class. Its proposed stock symbol – GPCR – matches its therapeutic focus. The company is developing GSBR-1290, its oral small molecule product candidate, to treat Type 2 diabetes (adult onset diabetes mellitus) and obesity.

The company began a Phase 1b multiple ascending dose (MAD) study of GSBR-1290, its leading drug candidate, in Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and obesity in January. It plans to submit a protocol amendment to the FDA to transition to a Phase 2a proof-of-concept study in T2DM and obesity with expected initiation in the second half of 2023. Structure Therapeutics expects to report topline data for the Phase 1b study and the Phase 2a study in the second half of 2023, the prospectus says. 

Stay tuned.

(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.

The forecast for early February is a flurry of micro-cap IPOs. Nine deals – a tiny NYSE-American Exchange uplisting and eight extremely small IPOs – are on the  IPO Calendar for the week of Jan. 30, 2023. The deals range in size from $8.0 million to $22.5 million. All eight IPOs are NASDAQ listings. Bankers expect to raise about $106.02 million if all nine deals get done.

Quite a few names will look familiar:

– Four of the eight small IPOs are carry-overs from last week: Lucy Scientific Discovery, Inc. (LSDI proposed); Lead Real Estate Co. Ltd. (LRE proposed), Bullfrog AI Holdings (BFRG/ BFRGW proposed) and Elate Group (ELGP/ ELGPW proposed).

-Two deals, including the uplisting, were relaunched after postponements in December: Curative Biotechnology, Inc. (CUBT/ CUBT WS proposed), an uplisting to the NYSE-American Exchange from the OTC Pink Market, and SONDORS (SODR proposed), the maker of electric bikes and e-motorcyles, a NASDAQ listing.

-Perhaps most significantly, two deals – Lichen China Ltd. (LICN proposed) and  Lead Real Estate Co. Ltd.(LRE proposed) – are back on the IPO runway after postponements on or around Sept. 19, 2022. That’s when the NASDAQ’s policy of increased scrutiny of small-cap IPOs brought traffic almost to a halt.

U.S. stock futures are expected to open lower today (Monday, Jan. 30, 2023) Investors are in a cautious mood ahead of the Fed’s meeting this week and another blitz of earnings from bellwether companies.

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise U.S. interest rates by only 25 basis points (a quarter percentage point) on Wednesday (Feb. 1, 2023) after December’s CPI data indicated that the central bank’s aggressive campaign to curb inflation is working, as Bloomberg reported.

China, Japan & Profits

Lichen China (LCN proposed), a Chinese financial and tax service provider, and Lead Real Estate Co. Ltd. (LRE proposed), a Japanese luxury real estate developer, are generating some buzz. Both companies are profitable.

Lichen China is scheduled to price its IPO on Tuesday night (Jan. 31, 2023) for trading Wednesday, Feb. 1, on the NASDAQ. Univest Securities is the sole book-runner.

Lead Real Estate Co. Ltd.’s IPO is set to price Wednesday night (Feb. 1, 2023) for trading Thursday, Feb. 2. Network 1 Financial Securities is the sole book-runner.

As IPO investors know all too well, the NASDAQ holds the cards here. A pricing date is written in pencil until the NASDAQ gives its blessing to a small-cap IPO.

Stay tuned.

(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.

Is this the year of the mid-point? TXO Energy Partners L.P. (TXO) gained 10 percent in its NYSE debut today (Friday, Jan. 27, 2023). TXO priced its IPO at the $20.00 mid-point of its $19.00-to-$21.00 range. TXO is the third IPO this year to price at the mid-point. The Fort Worth, Texas-based oil and gas partnership’s IPO of just 5.0 million common units raised $100 million. TXO is only the second IPO this year to raise $100 million or more. The TXO deal was priced on Thursday night (Jan. 26, 2023) in sync with the terms in its prospectus.

TXO (TXO) closed Friday’s session at $22.00 – the same print as its opening trade – up 10 percent from its $20.00 IPO price – on volume of 1.54 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. During the day, TXO hit a session high of $22.99.

Raymond James, Stifel, Janney Montgomery Scott and Capital One Securities were the joint book-runners.

TXO plans to pay a cash distribution. That cash payout and its strong profits attracted plenty of interest from retail investors.

“It’s a retail yield play,” a seasoned IPO pro says. “And the energy sector is the right space.”

Allocations on TXO were said to be tight.

Bankers Price Four IPOs This Week

TXO Energy Partners’ successful IPO wrapped up the last full week of January. Bankers raised about $163.13 million by pricing four IPOs, including TXO.

Let’s take a look at the rest of the week’s deals, which included an Italian amateur soccer club’s tiny IPO, a clinical biotech’s nano-cap IPO and a Chinese EdTech company’s small-cap IPO.

Soccer IPO Slips

In contrast, the micro-cap IPO of Brera Holdings Plc (BREA) did not fare as well. Brera Holdings, the Irish parent of Brera FC, an amateur soccer club in Milan, Italy, priced its micro-cap IPO at $5.00 on Thursday night (Jan. 26) to raise $7.5 million. Brera’s stock opened flat at $5.00 and later fell as low as $3.70. At the close, Brera was at $4.82 on the NASDAQ. 

Reverse Securities was the sole book-runner for Brera’s IPO.

Tiny Biotech IPO Prices at Low End

Genelux Corp. (GNLX), a clinical biotech focused on ovarian cancer, priced its small-cap IPO on Wednesday night (Jan. 25, 2023) at $6.00 – the low end of its $6.00-to-$7.00 price range. The IPO – just 2.5 million shares – raised $15.0 million.

Genelux describes its lead drug candidate, Olvi-Vec, as a proprietary modified strain of DNA virus that kills cancer cells. Genelux is evaluating Olvi-Vec in patients with ovarian cancer in a Phase 3 clinical trial.

Shares of Genelux opened flat at $6.00 on Thursday (Jan. 26, 2023) in their NASDAQ trading debut. During the day, Genelux hit a session high of $7.94, touched a session low at $5.95, and rebounded to close at $6.15 – up 2.5 percent from its IPO price. First-day volume was about 1.55 million shares.

At Friday’s close, Genelux ended at $6.01 – up just 1 cent from its IPO price.

The Benchmark Company and Brookline Capital Markets were the joint book-runners for the Genelux IPO.

QuantaSing Group Swings 

China’s QuantaSing Group Limited (QSG) – the second company this year to price its IPO at the mid-point – opened with a nearly 10 percent gain in its NASDAQ debut on Wednesday (Jan. 25, 2023). The stock quickly changed course, though, closing at $12.52 – up just 2 cents from its IPO price.

QuantaSing leaped out of the gate. The stock shot up 9.6 percent to $13.70 – up $1.20 from its $12.50 IPO price – when the American Depositary Shares (ADS) started trading at 11:14 a.m. EST on Wednesday ( Jan. 25, 2023) on the NASDAQ. QuantaSing fell fairly quickly, though, trading at $12.70 at around 11:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday.

QuantaSing is the first U.S. IPO from a Chinese company this year. QuantaSing priced its U.S. IPO at $12.50 – the mid-point of its $11.50-to-$13.50 range – on 3.25 million ADS on Tuesday night (Jan. 24, 2023). The IPO raised $40.63 million. The pricing – in sync with the terms in the prospectus – was delayed from the previous week.

QuantaSing is known in China for its online financial literacy courses for adults. The company went public during the first week of the Chinese New Year. This is the Year of the Rabbit, a symbol of longevity, peace and prosperity in Chinese culture. 

After QuantaSing launched its IPO this month, the deal appeared to rekindle the relationships of Chinese companies with big U.S. investment banks. China’s Hesai Group (HSAI proposed) filed plans to go public in the U.S. during the week of Jan. 16, 2023. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the joint book-runners’ team for Hesai Group’s IPO.

Stay tuned.

China’s QuantaSing Group Limited (QSG) ended its first day of trading about where it started – at $12.52, up just 2 cents from its IPO price – in its NASDAQ debut. That was a quiet finish after a showy start. QuantaSing shot up 9.6 percent to $13.70 – up $1.20 from its $12.50 IPO price – when the American Depositary Shares (ADS) started trading at 11:14 a.m. EST today (Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023) on the NASDAQ. QuantaSing’s ADS lost altitude fairly quickly, though, to trade at $12.70 at around 11:30 a.m. EST today. QuantaSing is the first U.S. IPO from a Chinese company this year. QuantaSing, known in China for its online financial literacy courses for adults, went public during the first week of the Chinese New Year. This is the Year of the Rabbit, a symbol of longevity, peace and prosperity in Chinese culture. 

QuantaSing, China’s largest online adult education company, priced its U.S. IPO at $12.50 – the mid-point of its $11.50-to-$13.50 range – on 3.25 million ADS on Tuesday night (Jan. 24, 2023). The IPO raised $40.63 million. The pricing – in sync with the terms in the prospectus – was delayed from last week.

China watchers point out that QuantaSing filed to go public in late December “just days after the U.S. securities watchdog’s accounting arm gave a positive review to its first tests of a new deal giving it access to China-based auditors of U.S.-listed Chinese firms,” Bamboo Works reported. That positive review from the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) indicated that the risk of the U.S. delisting Chinese companies listed in New York had been avoided, according to Bamboo Works. QuantaSing’s IPO filing “seems to confirm the big investment banks also see it that way, ending a pause to their new IPO sponsorships dating back to the summer of 2021,” according to the Jan. 17, 2023, story by Doug Young, a co-founder and editor-in-chief of Bamboo Works.

Citigroup and CICC were the lead joint book-runners of QuantaSing’s IPO. US Tiger Securities, Inc., CLSA Limited, and Univest Securities LLC served as co-managers.

The ADS were issued by QuantaSing’s Cayman Islands holding company and not by the underlying business, based in  Beijing. Each ADS represents three ordinary shares.

Insider and anchor investors had indications of interest for up to $15.0 million – or about 37 percent – of the IPO, according to the prospectus.

QuantaSing specializes in providing online financial literacy courses to adults in China, along with classes in other topics for their personal development. The company says it has market share of about 37 percent, based on 2021 revenue, according to a Frost & Sullivan report. QuantaSing also provides enterprise customers with online talent assessment, training and learning services for internal employee management.

As of Nov. 30, 2022, QuantaSing had about 75.1 million registered users, quadrupling from 17.0 million as of June 30, 2021.

For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2022, QuantaSing had about 1.1 million paying learners, representing a 37.5% increase from 0.8 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021.

QuantaSing, however, is not profitable. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022, QuantaSing reported a net loss of US$32.8 million on revenue of US $403.2 million.

After QuantaSing launched its IPO this month, the bromance between Chinese companies and big U.S. investment banks heated up again. China’s Hesai Group (HSAI proposed) filed plans last week to go public in the U.S. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading its joint book-runners’ team.

Stay tuned.

(For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.)

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.