Just like they did on the previous Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 ended on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, at record closing highs and the Nasdaq Composite Index at its high for the year. This strength sparked activity around the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window.
Besides the eight pricings, six companies filed first-time plans to go public, 13 others filed updated amendments, and eight of those have found their way onto the calendar. This sets the stage for another busy week in the Land of IPOs.
Highlighting this week’s traffic are a couple of industrial sector in plays, a couple of yield plays, and what is reported to be on people’s “most wanted” list.
The “Most Wanted” IPO
FibroGen (FGEN – proposed) of San Francisco is a research-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutic agents to treat serious unmet medical needs. The company’s most advanced product candidate, roxadustat, is an oral small molecule inhibitor of HIF prolyl hydroxylases in Phase 3 clinical development. The product is being developed as a treatment of anemia in chronic kidney disease. FibroGen’s second product candidate is a monoclonal antibody in Phase 2 clinical development. This product is being developed as a treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, pancreatic cancer and liver fibrosis.
The deal is expected to be priced Thursday evening to trade Friday morning.
Flight and Drugs
The sectors in play this week – airlines and biotech/drug development – represent robust sectors of the economy.
The Dow Jones U.S. Airlines Index closed Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, UP 38.8 percent from its recent low on Oct. 13, 2014, versus a 7.4 percent gain by the S&P 500 index over the same period of time.
Virgin America (VA – proposed) is a Burlingame, California-based premium-branded low-cost airline providing scheduled air travel in the United States and Mexico. The company operates flights mostly from its focus cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco to other major business and leisure destinations in North America.
The deal is expected to be priced Thursday evening to trade Friday morning.
Google’s Biotechnology & Medical Research Index closed Friday, Nov. 7, UP 24.1 percent for the year verses a 9.93 percent gain for the S&P 500 over the same period of time.
PRA Health Sciences (PRAH – proposed) is one of the world’s leading global contract research organizations (CROs) providing outsourced clinical development services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The company believes it is one of a select group of CROs with the expertise and capability to conduct clinical trials across all major therapeutic areas on a global basis. PRA believes it has therapeutic expertise in areas that are among the largest in pharmaceutical development, including oncology, central nervous system, inflammation and infectious diseases. The company provides flexible clinical development service offerings, which includes both traditional, project-based Phase I through Phase IV services as well as embedded and functional outsourcing services.
The deal is expected to be priced Wednesday evening to trade Thursday morning.
Yield Plays
Landmark Infrastructure Partners LP (LMRK – proposed) is a growth-oriented master limited partnership formed to acquire, own and manage a portfolio of real property interests that it leases to companies in the wireless communication, outdoor advertising and renewable power generation industries. The company plans to pay a minimum quarterly distribution of 28.75 cents per unit or $1.15 annually to yield 5.75 percent based on the mid-point of its price range.
The deal is expected to be priced Thursday evening to trade Friday morning.
Navios Maritime Midstream Partners LP (NAP – proposed) is a Monaco-based limited partnership formed to own, operate and acquire crude oil tankers under long-term employment contracts. The company plans to pay a minimum quarterly distribution of 41.25 cents per unit or $1.65 annually to yield 8.25 percent based on the mid-point of its price range.
The deal is expected to be priced Wednesday evening to trade Thursday morning.
Looking into the week of Nov. 17, 2014, the calendar has three deals with bankers planning to raise $3.1 billion. But more names could pop onto the calendar by the time that Monday, Nov. 17, rolls around. Consider this: This time last week, the IPO calendar for the week of Nov. 10 had three deals looking to raise about $315 million. Now it has 14 IPOs looking to raise about $2.4 billion.
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 opinions.