Tag: direct listing
IPO mix and match?
You might want to take a look at this interesting column from Bloomberg’s Matt Levine, talking about some recent developments in the IPO market. Apparently, a second company is contemplating conducting an IPO through a direct listing, a listing process run outside of the conventional underwritten offering in which the company files with the SEC to allow certain of its outstanding shares to be sold directly into the market, without the traditional help from the underwriters in marketing the deal. Although the company does not raise any funds itself, it becomes a public company and provides a market in which shares may sold by selling shareholders at prevailing market prices. The process may be particularly appealing to companies that are very well known and well funded, but want to trade publicly, since the costs of going public are generally lower and the process can be somewhat quicker than a traditional IPO.
It takes a unicorn? SEC approves NYSE rule change to facilitate direct listings
The chatter has it that some unicorns are considering skipping the standard underwritten IPO in favor of a “direct listing.” Essentially, this process involves a registered sale by selling shareholders directly into the public market with no intermediary underwriter and—imagine this—no underwriting commissions and no roadshow or similar expenses. Of course, there’s also the small matter of no proceeds to the company. What’s more, companies may be on their own when it comes to any marketing effort, otherwise typically provided by the bankers, and there may be only limited banker support of the stock price in the aftermarket. And what about that first day pop in the stock that can breed so much excitement? Of course, many companies have taken advantage of the fertile territory for capital raising provided by the private markets—after all, that’s how they got to be unicorns—and may have no need of additional capital at this point. Their motivation for becoming public may have more to do with shareholder liquidity and obtaining the “currency” that publicly traded stock can provide in the context of acquisitions and similar transactions. Whether the “direct listing” route to going public catches fire remains to be seen.
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