Two IPOs Show IPO Market Losing Luster
Of four initial public offerings (IPO) scheduled to begin trading on Wednesday, we have seen two and await the others. Both IPOs now trading priced below their expected range, and one offered fewer shares than expected. Investor interest has not been wildly positive either.
Moelis & Co. (MC) is a global investment bank based in New York. The firm sold 6.5 million shares in its IPO Wednesday morning at $25 a share. That was below its expected range of $26 to $29. The number of shares sold was also lower than the planned offering of 7.3 million shares. Moelis raised about $162.5 million in gross proceeds at the IPO price.
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Competing with the massive investment banking operations of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley may seem like a losing proposition, but Moelis emphasizes its independence. Its chief competitors are likely to be Evercore Partners Inc. (EVR) and Greenhill & Co. Inc. (GHL), both of which are down about 15% year to date.
Moelis shares traded up about 5% at $26.25, after touching a peak of $27.22 earlier in the morning. Trading opened at $27 a share.
Opus Bank (NASDAQ:OPB) is a California-chartered commercial bank. It sold 5.8 million shares Wednesday at $30 a share, sharply lower than its expected price range of $34 to $36 a share. About 23 million shares will be outstanding following the IPO.
As of December 31, 2013, Opus had total assets of $3.7 billion, total loans of $2.9 billion, total deposits of $2.7 billion and $668.8 million of stockholders' equity. The bank plans to operate in four lines of business: commercial banking, retail banking, merchant banking, and correspondent banking.
Shares dropped to $29.31 shortly after trading began, after rising to $30.24. The stock is trading at $29.86, down about 0.5%, in the late morning.
We will be keeping an eye out for the other two IPOs due out Wednesday: Trivascular Technologies and Quotient.
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