The IPO Buzz: Health Care and Money

April’s IPO Calendar flips open on Monday, with the health-care and money sectors in the headlights – along with the hope, of course, that Uber will file its public IPO documents soon.  The excitement over Lyft’s IPO last week left investors hungry for details of ride-share giant Uber’s initial public offering, which is expected this month, according to Bloomberg.

Six companies are set to go public so far in April – and five are on this week’s IPO Calendar.  To put those numbers in perspective, let’s look at the data over the past 18 years. The month of April alone has averaged 12.78 IPOs, based on a total of 230 IPOs priced in April for the years 2001 through 2018, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission data showed.

The health-care sector accounts for two IPOs this week – NGM Biopharmaceuticals,  a clinical-stage biopharma company developing a drug to treat a type of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and Silk Road Medical, a medical device company focused on stroke prevention.

Health-care IPOs represented 34.2 percent of the deals priced over the last 12 months, according to IPOScoop data.

The financial sector is represented by one deal this week – Tradeweb Markets, which describes itself as a leader in building electronic marketplaces for its global network of financial clients, including asset managers and banks.

Financial IPOs accounted for 11.1 percent of the IPOs priced over the past year, IPOScoop data showed.

Bankers expect to raise a total of about $992.6 million this week, when three deals are scheduled for pricing Wednesday night, April 3rd, to start trading Thursday morning, April 4th. Let’s take a look.

A Drug Targeting NASH

NGM Biopharmaceuticals (NGM proposed), based in San Francisco, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing drugs to treat liver diseases, cardio-metabolic disorders and other conditions. Its most advanced drug product candidate, NGM282, will enter Phase 2b development to treat non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, which is a type of fatty liver disease, according to the prospectus.

The price range is $14 to $16 for this IPO of 6.7 million shares, set for pricing Wednesday night, and a debut on NASDAQ on Thursday morning.

A Device to Prevent Stroke

Silk Road Medical (SILK proposed), based in Sunnyvale, California, is a medical device company pioneering a minimally invasive treatment of carotid artery disease, which is a leading cause of stroke. The treatment is called TCAR, which stands for transcarotid artery revascularization.

The price range is $15 to $17 for this IPO of 4.7 million shares, scheduled for pricing Wednesday night, to start trading on NASDAQ on Thursday morning.

Moving Money

Tradeweb Markets (TW proposed), based in New York, is a leader in building and operating electronic marketplaces for its global network of financial clients, including many of the largest global asset managers, hedge funds, insurance companies, central banks, proprietary trading firms, banks and dealers and retail brokerage firms. The company serves clients in 62 countries with offices in North America, Europe and Asia.

This is the week’s largest IPO, consisting of 27.3 million shares at $24 to $26 each to raise $681.7 million. Pricing is set for Wednesday night, with trading expected to start on NASDAQ on Thursday morning.

Rounding Out the Calendar

The other two deals on this week’s IPO Calendar are:

*Powerbridge Technologies Co. Ltd. (PBTS proposed), a global trade software solutions company based in China; this offering is set for pricing Monday night and trading on NASDAQ on Tuesday morning, and

*Ruhnn Holding Ltd. (RUHN proposed), a China-based facilitator of KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders), or  influencers who have the ability to engage people and affect their choices in fashion, culture and gaming, on the Internet and elsewhere on social media; this offering is set for pricing Tuesday night, with trading on NASDAQ to start on Wednesday morning.

(For more information on these companies, check the IPO profiles on the website of IPOScoop.)

Second Week of April

For the week of April 8th, only one name is on the IPO Calendar – Jumia (JMIA proposed). This is Africa’s leading e-commerce platform, dubbed by some as the Alibaba of Africa.

But more deals could enter the IPO pipeline on Monday morning when the SEC’s filing window opens again for business.

Stay tuned.

Disclosure: Neither the author nor anyone else on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned, nor do we trade or invest in IPOs. The author and IPOScoop.com staff do not issue advice, recommendations or opinion.