The IPO Buzz: Texas on the March Marquee with Atlas Energy Solutions’ IPO

Texas gets the March IPO market started this week. Atlas Energy Solutions (AESI proposed), an Austin, Texas-based company that supplies frac sand to the oil and gas industry, plans to price its $387 million IPO on Wednesday night (March 8, 2023). Atlas Energy Solutions will be the biggest initial public offering this year since Mineralys Therapeutics (MLYS) went public on Feb. 10, 2023. Atlas Energy Solutions is expected to make its debut on Thursday (March 9, 2023) on the New York Stock Exchange.

Goldman Sachs, BofA Securities, Piper Sandler, RBC Capital Markets, Barclays, Citigroup, Raymond James and Johnson Rice & Co. are the joint book-runners of Atlas Energy Solutions’ IPO: 18.0  million shares at $20 to $23 to raise $387 million, assuming pricing at the $21.50 mid-point. Under those terms, Atlas Energy Solutions would have a market cap of about $2.2 billion.

Atlas Energy Solutions, Inc. is “the deal of the week.” It’s the only big traditional IPO – of $100 million or more – on this week’s IPO Calendar. Five small-cap IPOs are also on this week’s pricing roster, ranging from Nava Health MD LLC (NAVA proposed) on Monday night to XIAO-I Corp. (XI proposed) on Wednesday night. PishPosh Inc. (BABY proposed) is the new micro-cap name on the IPO Calendar.  PishPosh plans to price its tiny initial public offering on Tuesday night (March 7, 2023). Based in Lakewood, N.J., PishPosh sells luxury baby strollers and other baby gear online and in its showroom boutique.

Cash Appeal

IPO investors are buzzing about Atlas Energy Solutions’ IPO for reasons that boil down to just five letters: M-O-N-E-Y

“We like it. It’s in the Permian Basin and it’s profitable,” a seasoned IPO investor says.

For the year ended Dec. 31, 2022, Atlas Energy Solutions earned net income of $217.01 million on revenue of $482.72 million.

On a year-over-year basis for 2022 compared with 2021, Atlas Energy Solutions’ revenue growth was about 180 percent.

Its dividend policy is also attractive. Atlas Energy Solutions says it will recommend to the board of directors that the company consider payment of a dividend to stockholders in the future.

Big Dune Control

Atlas Energy Solutions, Inc.  (AESI proposed) describes itself as “a leading provider of proppant (frac sand) and logistics services to the oil and natural gas industry within the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico, the most active oil and natural gas basin in North America,” according to the prospectus.

We control 14,575 acres of large open-dune reserves and resources, which represent more than 70% of the total giant open dune acreage in the Winkler Sand Trend available for sand mining,” the prospectus says. 

Atlas Energy Solutions says it has “strong brand recognition for reliability and strong customer service that has enabled us to increase the volume of proppant sold every year since the founding of the company in 2017,” according to the prospectus.

Behold the Dune Express

Atlas Energy Solutions says it is expanding its business beyond proppant sales. It’s planning to build the Dune Express, the first long-haul overland conveyor system to deliver proppant. This system will cut the distance that proppant needs to travel by truck. It will also remove a significant number of trucks from public roadways within the Permian Basin, according to the prospectus.

“We expect the Dune Express to make public roadways safer by removing trucks from public roadways, thus reducing traffic, accidents and fatalities on public roadways in the region,” the company says.

The 42-mile Dune Express will cost about $400 million to build. Atlas Energy Solutions plans to use part of the IPO’s net proceeds to fund the construction of the Dune Express. The company expects to break ground on the project in the first half of 2023. Commercial service is likely to begin by the end of 2024.

Next Week

Just two names are on the IPO Calendar for the week of March 13, 2023. That could change after the sun comes up on Wall Street on Monday morning, March 6th.

Stay tuned.

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

Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. 

To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. 

Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions.

Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.