WeTrade Group Inc. (WETG) priced its NASDAQ uplisting of 10 million shares at $4.00 – the bottom of its $4.00-to-$6.00 range – on Monday night, July 18, 2022. The Chinese e-commerce tech services company’s $40 million deal kicked off a light week. Just one IPO – Virax Biolabs (VRAX proposed), a tiny healthcare deal carried over from last week – and a small NYSE – American uplisting for 1847 Holdings (EFSH proposed) – are on this week’s IPO Calendar. If all get done, bankers expect to raise about $58.75 million. (Editor’s Note: This column, published Tuesday morning, July 19, was updated after the closing bell.)
This slow week follows a moonshot on Friday, July 15, by AMTD Digital (HKD) – up 107.82 percent from its IPO price on its first day of trading. AMTD Global, Livermore Holdings and EDDID were the joint book-runners for AMTD Digital’s IPO, according to the final prospectus.
Univest Securities was the sole book-runner for WeTrade’s public offering.
WeTrade Group (WETG) shares are expected to start trading today (Tuesday, July 19, 2022) on the NASDAQ. (Update: WeTrade’s stock opened at $15.79 and closed its first day of NASDAQ trading at $20.15 on volume of 264,732 shares.)
U.S. stock futures were higher on Tuesday morning, with futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 210 points, or 0.7 percent, a day after the Dow’s 215-point drop to close on Monday (July 18) at 31,072, according to MarketWatch. S&P 500 futures were up 0.9 percent, while the NASDAQ was set to climb 0.8%, MarketWatch reported in an update published at 7:38 a.m. EDT. (Update: Stock rallied on Tuesday, July 19, on earnings news and booked their biggest one-day gains in nearly a month, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Dow jumped 754.4 points, or 2.43 percent, to close at 31,827.05, while the NASDAQ surged 353.1 points, or 3.11 percent, to settle at 11,713.15, and the S&P 500 gained 105.84 points, or 2.8%, to end the day at 3,936.69.)
WeTrade’s NASDAQ uplisting and public offering have been in the works since early June 2021, SEC records show.
The stock was offered by WeTrade’s U.S. holding company, the prospectus says. The holding company, incorporated in Wyoming, “does not directly own substantially all of our business in China conducted by our subsidiaries,” according to the prospectus. The business is based in Beijing. WeTrade Group Inc. is permitted under the Wyoming laws to provide funding to the company’s subsidiaries in Singapore, Hong Kong and PRC (the People’s Republic of China) through loans or capital contributions without restrictions on the amount of the funds, subject to satisfaction of applicable government registration, approval and filing requirements, the prospectus says.
“We are in the business of providing technical services and solutions via our social e-commerce platform” to both individual and corporate users, WeTrade says in the prospectus. “We are committed to providing an international cloud-based intelligence system, and (we) independently developed a micro-business cloud intelligence system called the “YCloud.” Our goal is to provide technical and auto-billing management services to micro-business online stores in China through big data analytics, machine learning mechanisms, social network recommendations, and multi-channel data analysis.”
The YCloud system’s main functions are to manage users’ marketing relationships, CPS commission profit management, multi-channel data statistics, AI fission and management, and improved supply chain systems.
YCloud serves the micro business industry as well as customers in the tourism, hospitality and short video businesses. WeTrade says it expects to expand the application of its YCloud services to livestreaming, medical beauty and traditional retail industries.
WeTrade Group is profitable, with net income of $5.09 million on revenue of $13.84 million for the last 12 months, according to the prospectus.
Virax Biolabs IPO Up Next
Just one IPO is in the offing this week. Virax Biolabs Group Limited (VRAX proposed) expects to price its tiny IPO – 1.35 million shares at $5.00 – on Wednesday night, July 20, to trade Thursday, July 21, on the NASDAQ. Estimated IPO proceeds are $6.75 million. This deal is a carry-over from last week.
Boustead Securities is the sole book-runner of this IPO.
The holding company, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, is issuing the shares in the IPO. The company’s major operations are in the U.K. and Hong Kong, with operating subsidiaries in Singapore, China and the British Virgin Islands.
Founded in 2013, Virax Biolabs Group develops and sells diagnostic test kits and med-tech and Personal Protective Equipment (“PPE”) products for the prevention, detection, diagnosis, and risk management of viral diseases, with a particular interest in the field of immunology.
“We are developing a T-Cell IVD test kit under the Virax Immune brand for COVID-19 initially, which we subsequently intend to adapt for immunological profiling against multiple viral threats,” the prospectus says. “We are also building a proprietary mobile application for Virax Immune, using an in-house code, (which) will present an individual’s immunological profiling data and provide advice on the user’s immune system. Based on our management team’s analysis, we expect to file a patent for the Virax Immune Cell diagnostic test kit and a copyright for the Virax Immune app in 2022.”
Virax Biolabs is not profitable, the prospectus says. Its net loss was $670,000 on revenue of $120,000 for the last 12 months.
1847 Holdings’ Uplisting On Tap
The NYSE – American uplisting of 1847 Holdings LLC (EFSH proposed) is set for later this week. The public offering of 2.31 million shares at $4.20 to $6.20 is scheduled for pricing Thursday night, July 21, to start trading Friday, July 22, on the NYSE – American. Estimated proceeds of this uplisting/public offering are $12.0 million.
Craft Capital Management and R.F. Lafferty & Co. are the joint book-runners.
1847 Holdings LLC is a New York-based acquisition holding company focused on acquiring and managing a group of small businesses, which they define as companies with an individual enterprise value of less than $50 million. The holding company’s acquisitions include North American businesses in a variety of industries. To date, the holding company has completed six acquisitions and subsequently spun off two of them.
The holding company’s portfolio includes Asien’s Appliance, Inc., of Sonoma County, California; Kyle’s Custom Wood Shop, Inc., of Boise, Idaho; Wolo Mfg. Corp. and Wolo Industrial Horn & Signal, Inc., both of Deer Park. N.Y., and High Mountain Door & Trim Inc., and Sierra Homes, LLC d/b/a Innovative Cabinets & Design, of Reno, Nevada. The spinoffs were Neese, Inc., of Grand Junction, Iowa, and 1847 Goedeker, of Ballwin, Missouri.
1847 Holdings LLC is not profitable, according to the prospectus. The company had a net loss of $3.59 million on revenue of $30.66 million for the last 12 months.
IPOs Withdrawn
In a sign of the times, more high-profile IPOs were withdrawn last week. Justworks (JW proposed) and The Fresh Market Holdings (TFM proposed) withdrew their IPO plans in SEC filings dated July 13, 2022. Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan were the lead left book-runners for the Justworks IPO, while Credit Suisse and BofA Securities were the joint book-runners for The Fresh Market Holdings IPO.
Two days later, Everside Health Group Inc. (EVSD proposed) withdrew its IPO, citing “market conditions.” Its SEC withdrawal filing was dated July 15, 2022. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were in the lead left positions among the joint book-runners for Everside Health’s IPO
Big banks are likely to stay out of the IPO game until the U.S. stock market gets back on an even keel, the veteran IPO pros say.
In the meantime, smaller investment banks are keeping the IPO deal flow going.
Stay tuned.
(For more information, please see our IPO Calendar – Click on the company’s name and the hyperlink will take you to the IPO Profile, which includes a link to the prospectus.)
(Never trade on proposed symbols. You might wind up owning something on the OTC Bulletin Board.)
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.
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