Keeping an Eye On
MobileIron, Inc. began trading on Nasdaq under the MOBL symbol last Thursday after raising around $100 million in its IPO. The stock has sustained its climb since that first day, when it surged 22 percent to close at $11.02. As of Friday afternoon, it had retreated closer to the price it was initially sold at, settling at $9.92.
Founded in 2007, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company develops software that enables employees to securely access company data through their personal smartphones and tablets. Despite more than doubling revenues, MobileIron is not yet profitable, having posted a $32.5 million loss last year. Its competitor in the mobile device management (MDM) market, Good Technology Corp., filed for an IPO last month.
China’s leading white collar career site, Zhaopin LTD, debuted on the New York Stock Exchange last Friday. A week later, the stock is trading at $14.33 after going to market at $13.50. Zhaopin is the latest in a string of Chinese companies to IPO on the American market. The microblogging site Sina Weibo went public in April, while digital content platform Xunlei and e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com plan to in the coming months.
Now Trading
Viper Energy Partners, LP raised over $130 million in its Tuesday IPO, selling 5 million shares at $26, far surpassing the $19 to $21 forecasts made in the company’s regulatory filing. Barclays led the offering, with additional assistance from Credit Suisse and Wells Fargo. Viper is an MLP that receives royalties on any sale of oil and gas extracted from over 14,804 acres in Texas’ Permian Basin. Viper was divested out of Diamondback Energy, Inc., after the Texas shale oil driller acquired the mineral rights last September for $440 million. Following the IPO, the entity is currently valued at $1.98 billion.
Markit, Ltd., a London-based financial information and services provider that specializes in data on the credit, derivatives, bonds, and foreign exchange markets, raised $1.3 billion in its Wednesday IPO. It was anticipated that the company would offer 45.7 million shares, but sold 53.5 million instead to raise more money than had been projected. Bank of America Merrill Lynch was the lead underwriter. BofA was also an equity holder, and was joined by Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, CitiGroup, and the hedge fund Eton Park Capital Management in selling off shares. Trading began on the Nasdaq at $19 per share under the ticker symbol MRKT and had reached by the day’s end. Markit generated $947.9 million in revenue last year to go with $147 million in profit.
Making Plans
Materialise NV, a Belgium-based provider of 3D printing software and services, set terms for its IPO on Monday. The company will sell 8 million shares within the $12 to $14 range, giving it a market capitalization of approximately $612 million if priced in the middle. When it debuts on the Nasdaq later this month, the fifteen-year old company will join 3D Systems, Stratasys, ExOne, Arcam, and voxeljet as publicly traded 3D printing companies. Unlike the others, Materialise only makes software for 3D printing, frequently licensing it to the hardware manufacturers above. The company counts Johnson & Johnson, Ford, and Boeing among its other customers, and reported 3.9 million euros in net income on 69 million euros in revenue last year.
The cloud-based, Chinese digital content platform Xunlei, Inc. announced Monday that it will offer 8 million shares in $9 and $11 per share range, which would give it an initial market capitalization of around $347 million if priced in the middle. The company will trade on the Nasdaq under the XNET ticker symbol, with JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank leading the underwriting. The company was founded by two Duke graduates in 2004 and is backed by Morningside, IDG, and Ceyuan Funds. Google also owns a minority stake in the company.