The IPO Buzz: Magic Show

Magic came to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window last week. Ten companies filed for IPOs to raise $2.76 billion; seven more filed updated amendments to raise $1.5 billion, and eight IPOs were priced. Seven IPOs are scheduled this week – the first week of fall.

Among the magical filings last week was Sea Limited (SE – proposed), a Singapore-based developer of an integrated platform consisting of digital entertainment, e-commerce and digital financial services, each localized to meet the unique characteristics of GSEA or Greater Southeast Asia, which consists of these seven markets: Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore.

That was a US$1 billion offering.

Qudian (QD – proposed), based in Beijing, is another name to note. Qudian offers online credit products to “young mobile-active consumers” in China, the prospectus says. The company uses big data-enabled technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to transform the consumer finance experience in China.

That was a US$750 million offering.

September Stardust

In addition, IPO experts see some stardust in this week’s traffic as September comes to a close. The deals to watch are Deciphera Pharmaceuticals (DCPH – proposed), Roku (ROKU – proposed) and RYB Education (RYB – proposed). Let’s take a look.

  • Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a biopharmaceutical company developing kinase-inhibitor drugs to treat cancer. The company believes its products cut off the ability of tumor cells to thrive and spread.
  • Roku, based in Los Gatos, California, the pioneer manufacturer of streaming devices, offers wireless enabled players that stream audio and video content from the Internet to TVs and home entertainment systems.
  • RYB Education, based in Beijing, is the largest provider of kindergarten and pre-school services in China. Some of its schools offer instruction in Chinese and English. RYB Education opened China’s first play-and-learn center in 1998. The company provides training in subjects and languages, teacher recruitment and other services.

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

Real Estate, Drugs and Chemicals

Rounding out this week’s IPO calendar are: Gadsden Growth Properties(GADS – proposed); Nightstar Therapeutics (NITE – proposed); NuCana plc (NCNA – proposed) and PQ Group Holdings (PQD – proposed). Let’s take a look.

Gadsden Growth Properties, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that will focus on the acquisition, development and management of income-producing commercial real estate, including shopping centers, medical offices and senior living centers, located primarily in the Southwestern United States.

  • Nightstar Therapeutics, based in London, is a pharmaceutical company working on the development and commercialization of retinal gene therapies for patients suffering from rare inherited retinal diseases that would otherwise lead to blindness.
  • NuCana, based in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, is a biotechnology company developing drugs called ProTides to provide safer, more effective treatment for patients with ovarian, biliary, pancreatic, colorectal and breast cancer.
  • PQ Group Holdings, based in Malvern, Pennsylvania, provides specialty catalysts and performance chemicals used to make everything from consumer products to whiten teeth and speed wound healing to cars with improved fuel efficiency and “cleaner emissions” gasoline with less sulfur.

October on the Horizon

The IPO calendar has nothing on it for the week of Oct. 2, 2017. Nevertheless, when the SEC flips its filing window open again on Monday morning, anything can happen.

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.