The magic show of the summer’s IPO market closes this week. The calendar has five deals – and after that, it is a blank slate until after the Labor Day holiday. There’s no need to worry, though. This is a normal seasonal event.
Looking back over the last 10 summers, starting with 2008 and running through 2017, the SEC filings show that the IPO Calendar normally closes down in mid-August.
The earliest date for the summer swan song was Aug. 9, 2002, and the latest was Aug. 25, 2010. Note: Most of the IPOs that get priced before the late summer break are the only deal on that week’s calendar. There is a reason: Most of Wall Street’s bankers take off for an early Labor Day holiday. Depending upon the profitability of the various underwriting desks, some might take the jitney to the Hamptons while others hop on a private jet to some exotic island. Once upon a time, the New York Stock Exchange claimed that all brokers were equal. But in reality, some were more equal than others.
This week’s calendar has two regional bank IPOs, two health-care deals and one regional airline. Collectively, bankers expect these deals to raise $393 million. Let’s take a look at the week’s lineup, organized by pricing and trading dates.
Wednesday evening for Thursday morning
Amalgamated Bank (AMAL proposed), based in New York City, is a New York non-member commercial bank and chartered trust company that provides consumer banking, commercial lending and investment management services. It products and services include residential and commercial mortgages, other loans, investments and cash management. Its customers include social advocacy nonprofits, labor unions, political organizations and foundations as well as businesses and individuals dedicated to social responsibility, the prospectus says. Note: The offering circular states this is an IPO, but its stock trades on the OTC Market (the Pink Sheets) under the symbol “ANYB” – and the stock closed on Friday, Aug. 3, 2018, at $15.70.
Mesa Air Group (MESA proposed), based in Phoenix, Arizona, is a regional airline providing scheduled passenger service to 110 cities in 38 states as well as to the District of Columbia, Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas. All of Mesa’s flights are operated as either American Eagle or United Express flights.
Vaccinex (VCNX proposed), based in Rochester, New York, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company engaged in the discovery and development of targeted biotherapeutics to treat serious diseases with unmet medical needs, including neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and autoimmune disorders. Note: Insiders have given indications of interest to buy $30 million of the $45 million IPO – or 66.7 percent of the deal.
(For more information about these companies and others on the IPO calendar, please check the profiles found on the IPOScoop.com website.)
Thursday evening for Friday morning
Pacific City Financial (PCB proposed), based in Los Angeles, is a banking company that provides a full suite of commercial banking services through its wholly owned subsidiary, Pacific City Bank, a California state-chartered bank. The bank’s customers include small to medium-sized businesses, individuals and professionals, mostly in Southern California and predominantly in the Korean-American and other minority communities. Note: The prospectus states that before this offering, there has been no established public market for this stock, but its stock trades on the OTC Market (the Pink Sheets) under the symbol “PFCF” – and the stock closed on Friday, Aug. 3, 2018, at $20.25.
Expected “The Week Of” Aug. 6th
Bionano Genomics (BNGO proposed), based in San Diego, California, is a life sciences instrumentation company in the genome analysis space. The company is developing the Saphyr system. The platform is for ultra-sensitive and ultra-specific structural variation detection that enables researchers and clinicians to accelerate the search for new diagnostics and therapeutic targets and streamline the study of changes in chromosomes, a field known as cytogenetics. Note: Insiders have issued indications of interest to buy $6.35 million, or 21.1 percent, of the $30.1 million IPO.
Looking at Mid-August
This brings us to the week of Aug. 13th and the IPO Calendar is as clean as the pink sands of Bermuda. It looks like the IPO market will be closing down for the end of the summer. But anything can happen when the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window opens for business again on Monday morning, Aug. 6th.
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.