Spring is off to a rocky start on Wall Street with no end in sight yet to the roller-coaster ride. U.S. stock futures started trading limit down on Sunday night after the Senate failed to approve a stimulus package worth more than $1 trillion to help the economy weather the coronavirus pandemic. The steep slide followed U.S. stocks wrapping up their worst week since 2008 on Friday, March 20, 2020, which was the first day of spring.
In spite of it all, $900 million of “blank check” deals are still on this week’s IPO Calendar – although they are listed as “day to day.” These two IPOs have been carried over from last week.
Six new IPO filings checked in at the SEC’s filing window last week. Bankers expect to raise about $500 million.
So far, the Federal Reserve’s rate cut to zero last week and its launch of $700 billion in bond purchases have not calmed the financial markets.
The bear market, which began on March 11th, has driven the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 down more than 30 percent from their record highs in February.
The New York Stock Exchange, starting Monday, will conduct all-electronic trading following the temporary closure of its iconic trading floor due to the coronavirus outbreak.
On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced that he has called in the National Guard in California, New York state and Washington state, which are three of the states hardest hit by the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.
The IPO market is likely to be on pause until the U.S. stock market regains its footing. In the past, recoveries from a bear market have generally taken about four to six weeks before the IPO market got back to business.
That said, let’s take a look at the carry-over deals on this week’s calendar and the recent filings.
A Pair of Blank Checks
“Day to day” is the timing of these two deals – unit offerings expected to raise $900 million.
Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. II (IPOB.U proposed), based in Palo Alto, California, is a newly formed blank check of special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that intends to focus its search for a target business in the technology industries primarily in the United States.
This is a unit offering of 30 million units at $10 each on the NYSE.
This SPAC is a partnership between Chamath Palihapitiya, the former Facebook executive who is the founder and managing partner of Social Capital, and Ian Osborne, a co-founder and the CEO of Hedosophia.
Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. III (IPOC.U proposed), based in Palo Alto, California, intends to focus its search for a target business operating in the technology industries primarily located outside the United States.
This is a unit offering of 60 million unites at $10 each on the NYSE.
This SPAC is also a partnership between Chamath Palihapitiya, the former Facebook executive who is the founder and managing partner of Social Capital, and Ian Osborne, a co-founder and the CEO of Hedosophia.
In the Pipeline
Three of the six new IPO filings last week hail from China. The roster also includes two U.S.-based blank check companies and a small biotech from Lexington, Massachusetts.
Week of March 30th
This brings us to the week of March 30th and the IPO Calendar is blank so far. But some names could pop onto the IPO Calendar when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s filing window opens again for business on Monday morning, March 23rd.
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.