Qualtrics, Agrify Surge in Market Debuts. Ortho Clinical and Vinci Fall Below IPO Prices.
The Nasdaq MarketSite in New York.
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
Four companies— Qualtrics International, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics Holdings, Vinci Partners Investment, and Agrify —made their public equity markets debut Thursday.
All four are trading on the Nasdaq market. They made their entrance at a boom time for initial public offerings, with January on track to be the biggest opening month for new stocks in over 20 years.
Of the four latest IPOs, Qualtrics (ticker: XM) delivered the most anticipated deal this week, raising $1.55 billion. The company increased its offering twice and ended up selling 51.695 million shares at $30 apiece.
Qualtrics, which is being spun off by SAP (SAP), opened Thursday afternoon at $41.85. Shares jumped 48% to a high of $44.50 and recently changed hands at $42.30, up 41%.
At $1.55 billion, Qualtrics is the year’s third-biggest traditional IPO, behind Playtika (PLTK), which raised $2.15 billion earlier this month, and the $1.93 billion IPO from Shoals Technologies Group (SHLS) earlier this week, Dealogic said.
Agrify (AGFY) was the first of the four companies to begin trading. The stock opened at $13 and rose 43% to hit a high of $14.30. Shares recently changed hands at $12.68, up 26.8%.
Agrify raised $54 million late Wednesday after selling 5.4 million shares at $10 each. The company had planned to offer 2.8 million shares at $8 to $10 each, but boosted its deal to 5 million shares earlier this week.
Maxim Group and Roth Capital Partners are joint bookrunners on the deal.
Founded in 2016 as Agrinamics, the company, which changed its name to Agrify in 2019, makes hardware and software for the indoor agriculture marketplace. Agrify’s products can be used to grow cannabis, although the company does not “cultivate, come in contact with, distribute or dispense cannabis or any cannabis derivatives,” a prospectus said.
Agrify is not profitable. Losses widened to $8.6 million for nine months ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of $1.2 million for the same period in 2019, the prospectus said. Revenue more than doubled, to $7.73 million. The Burlington, Mass., company has 40 employees.
Raymond Chang, the entrepreneur who founded GigaMedia in 1997, is CEO of Agrify. He will have 10.6% voting power after the IPO.
Vinci Partners Investment (VINP) also began trading Thursday but quickly slid below its $18 offer price. Vinci opened at $17.70 and hit a high of $17.75. Shares recently changed hands at $16.62. The stock has yet to trade above its $18 IPO price, making Vinci a broken deal.
The Brazilian asset manager raised roughly $250 million after selling 13.9 million shares at $18, the top of its $16 to $18 price range.
J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and BTG Pactual are the underwriters of the deal.
Begun in 2009, Vinci is an alternative-investment platform in Brazil, with business segments including private equity, public equities, real estate, credit, infrastructure, hedge funds, and investment products. Vinci’s assets under management were 46.1 billion reais ($8.5 billion) as of Sept. 20.
Vinci reported 150.9 million reais in operating profit ($27.8 million) for the nine months ended Sept. 30, up from 113.5 million reais ($20.9 million) in operating profit for the same period in 2019, a prospectus said. It has 205 full-time employees. Gilberto Sayão da Silva, Vinci’s chairman, will have 77% of total voting power, after the IPO.
Ortho Clinical Diagnostics (OCDX) got off to a slow start with shares opening at $15.50, below its $17 offer price. The stock recently changed hands at $15.57, down 8.4%.
Late Wednesday, Ortho Clinical collected $1.29 billion when it sold 76 million shares at $17, below its expected price range. The company had planned to offer 70 million shares at $20 to $23.
At $1.29 billion, Ortho Clinical is the sixth largest traditional IPO this year, according to Dealogic.
J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs are the underwriters on the deal.
Ortho clinical provides in vitro diagnostics equipment, including instruments, assays, reagents, and other products that are used by hospitals, laboratories, clinics, blood banks, and donor centers globally.
Carlyle Group (CG) acquired the company from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) for $4 billion in 2017. The private-equity firm will own nearly 63% of Ortho shares after the IPO, a prospectus said.
Ortho Clinical is not profitable. Losses widened to $171 million for its fiscal nine months ended Sept. 27, compared with a loss of $158.5 million in the comparable 2019 period. Revenue dropped nearly 6%, to $1.2 billion. Ortho Clinical is also highly leveraged. Total debt stood at $3.7 billion as of Sept. 27, the prospectus said. The Raritan, N.J., company employs more than 4,500.
Write to Luisa Beltran at [email protected]
