Tag Archives: C&E Industry News Filter

Business

Krispy Kreme and 5 Other IPOs to Begin Trading

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Doughnuts on a production line inside a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts store in Times Square in Manhattan.


Angus Mordant/Bloomberg


Krispy Kreme

is leading a group of six companies to the public markets on Thursday.

Besides the doughnut chain,

Acumen Pharmaceuticals,


D-MARKET Electronic Services & Trading,


Evercommerce,


Torrid Holdings,

and the

Glimpse Group

opened for trading.

So far this week, 17 companies, including the current six, have listed their shares. There are no initial public offerings on tap for Friday because of the holiday weekend. On Wednesday, 10 companies went public, with

Didi Global,

the Uber of China, trading flat and closing at $14.14, 14 cents above its offering price.

On Thursday, Acumen Pharmaceuticals (ticker: ABOS) was one of the first to begin trading. The stock opened at $25.07, hit a high of $26.98, and recently changed hands in afternoon trading at $20.98, up 31% from the offering price.

The solid performance came after Acumen increased the size of its deal by nearly 20%. The biotech company, which is developing therapies to treat Alzheimer’s disease, collected about $160 million. It sold roughly 10 million shares at $16, the top of its $14-to-$16 range.

The Glimpse Group (VRAR), which develops and commercializes virtual and augmented reality software products, also opened. Shares kicked off at $11.75, peaked at $16.44, and recently traded at $12.95, up nearly 85%. Glimpse delivered Thursday’s smallest deal. The company collected $12.3 million, after selling 1.75 million shares at $7, the midpoint of its $6-to-$8 price range.

Torrid Holdings (CURV) began trading, with shares rising 15% from its offering price to $24.18 in afternoon trading. The plus-size, direct-to-consumer women’s retailer increased the size of its deal twice. It filed to offer 8 million shares at $18 to $21, which it boosted Wednesday to 10 million. It ended up selling 11 million shares at $21, the top of its expected range, raising $231 million. Sycamore Partners, the retail-focused private-equity firm, will own nearly 76% of Torrid after the IPO. 

Krispy Kreme (DNUT), the most well-known of Thursday’s group, kicked off at $16.30, peaked at $20.17 and recently changed hands at $19.57, up 15% from the offer price. The doughnut chain increased the size of its deal by 10% but priced well below its expected range to raise $500 million. Krispy Kreme had planned to offer 26.7 million shares at $21 to $24 each, but ended up selling 29.4 million shares at $17 each. JAB Holding, the European investment firm, will own about 39% of Krispy Kreme after the IPO

D-Market Electronic Services & Trading, or Hepsiburada (HEPS), jumped 8% from its offer price and is trading at $13. Hepsiburada, which means “you can find anything you want here” in Turkish, is a leading e-commerce platform from Istanbul. The company raised $680 million after selling 56,740,000 American depositary shares at $12 each, the midpoint of its $11-to-$13 price range. Each ADS represents one class B ordinary share.

Lastly, Evercommerce (EVCM) also began trading. The stock opened at $20, hit a high of $21 and recently changed hands at $17.46, up nearly 3% from the offer price. Evercommerce’s IPO came in at $325 million after selling 19.1 million shares at $17, the middle of its $16-to-$18 range. The company provides SaaS software for small and midsize service businesses.

Write to luisa.beltran@barrons.com

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Business

Car Market Is Expected to Cool Amid Dearth of Vehicles on Lots

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The dwindling number of vehicles on dealership lots is threatening to cool the U.S. car market’s blistering sales pace.

Analysts are expecting new-car sales from June to fall off from recent months, when car shoppers turned out in near-record numbers, buoyed by excess household savings and pent-up demand from the pandemic. Most car makers are scheduled Thursday to report U.S. sales results for June.

Customers are still clamoring for a new ride, dealers say. But it has become harder for salespeople to match buyers to vehicles because of the lack of inventory caused by the computer-chip shortage that has hobbled car production since winter.

“We really don’t have enough cars to go around,” said Joe Shaker, owner of Shaker Automotive Group, which sells several brands in Connecticut and Massachusetts. He said his Ford store is carrying about 14% of its normal inventory.

New-vehicle sales in the first half of the year are expected to reach about 8.3 million units, according to an estimate from J.D. Power, a 32% increase over the same period a year earlier and up nearly 1% from the first half of 2019.

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Business

TPG Is Evaluating a Public Listing

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TPG, one of the last of the original private-equity giants to remain a closely held partnership, is evaluating a public listing, people familiar with the matter said.

The firm is considering a straightforward initial public offering and a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, with the former being the most likely route, the people said. Such a deal could value the California-and-Texas firm at about $10 billion, some of the people said.

The process is still in its early stages and TPG may not opt to proceed with any deal.

TPG, with nearly $100 billion in assets under management, has flirted with an IPO multiple times, only to end up balking while rivals forged ahead. Blackstone Group Inc., Apollo Global Management Inc., KKR & Co. and Carlyle Group Inc. went public years ago, transforming businesses that have enjoyed rapid growth as the industry is flooded with assets.

“As we have consistently stated, we evaluate various strategic alternatives from time to time,” a TPG spokesman said in a statement. “No decisions have been made and we have nothing to announce at this time.”

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Business

Didi Shares Gain 5%. The Chinese Ride-Hailing Giant Opens for Trading.

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A Didi Chuxing autonomous taxi during a pilot test drive on the streets in Shanghai.


Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images


Didi Global,

the Uber of China, delivered one of the year’s biggest IPOs, raising $4.4 billion. 

On Wednesday, shares of Didi (ticker: DIDI) opened at $16.65, reached a high of $18.01 and then dropped. The stock tumbled to a low of $14.10, a dime above its IPO price. This means Didi traded close to its $14 offer price and was in danger of being considered a broken deal if it drops further. In late afternoon trading, the stock rebounded and recently changed hands at $14.69, up nearly 5% from its offer price.

The muted performance came during a busy day for IPOs. Didi was one of 10 companies that opened for trading on Wednesday.

The Chinese ride-hailing behemoth said it sold 316.8 million American depositary shares at $14, the top of its $13-to-$14 price range. Four such shares represent one class A ordinary share. The company announced on Wednesday morning that it had increased the size of the deal; it had planned on offering 288 million shares.

At $14.69 a share, Didi’s valuation stood at $76.4 billion on a fully diluted basis.


SentinelOne

(S), the AI-powered cybersecurity platform, also began trading Wednesday. The stock kicked off at $46 and hit a high of $46.50. It recently traded at $42.10, up 20% from the offer price.

On Tuesday, SentinelOne collected $1.2 billion after selling 35 million shares at $35 each, above its expected price range. SentinelOne had filed to offer 32 million shares at $26 to $29 each, which it boosted to $31 to $32 a share on Monday.

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and J.P. Morgan are the underwriters on the Didi offering.

Didi provides a smartphone app that lets users connect with vehicles and taxis for hire. Founded in 2012, it operates in nearly 4,000 cities, counties, and towns across 16 countries, its prospectus said. It had more than 493 million annual active users as of March 31. 

At $4.4 billion, Didi is the year’s second biggest IPO. Coupang (CPNG), which collected about $4.6 billion in March, remains the year’s largest IPO, Dealogic said.

Write to luisa.beltran@barrons.com

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Business

Robinhood Agrees to Pay $70 Million to Settle Regulatory Investigation

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WASHINGTON—Robinhood Financial LLC has agreed to pay nearly $70 million to resolve sweeping regulatory allegations that the brokerage misled customers, approved ineligible traders for risky strategies and didn’t supervise technology that failed and locked millions out of trading.

The enforcement action is a blow to the fast-growing online brokerage, which was launched in 2014 and has won over users with commission-free trades and its sleek mobile app. The company took on millions of new customers and attracted more scrutiny this year as many investors accessed Robinhood to speculate on so-called meme stocks such as GameStop Corp. and AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. Its forthcoming initial public offering is one of the most anticipated of the year.

Robinhood’s growth has continued, with its biggest source of revenue, stemming from customer trading, more than tripling in the first quarter, even as many customers complained about its technology snafus and limited customer service. It enraged clients earlier this year when it restricted trading in some popular stocks that had become so volatile that Robinhood’s clearinghouse told the brokerage to post billions of dollars in additional collateral.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the front-line inspector of broker-dealers, unveiled the settlement Wednesday. Robinhood neither admitted nor denied the claims.

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US

Trump Organization and CFO Allen Weisselberg Expected to Be Charged Thursday

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The Manhattan district attorney’s office is expected to charge the Trump Organization and its chief financial officer with tax-related crimes on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said, which would mark the first criminal charges against the former president’s company since prosecutors began investigating it three years ago.

The charges against the Trump Organization and Allen Weisselberg, the company’s longtime chief financial officer, are a blow to former President Donald Trump, who has fended off multiple criminal and civil probes during and after his presidency. Mr. Trump himself isn’t expected to be charged, his lawyer said. Mr. Weisselberg has rejected prosecutors’ attempts at gaining his cooperation, according to people familiar with the matter.

The defendants are expected to appear in court on Thursday afternoon, the people said.

The Trump Organization and Mr. Weisselberg are expected to face charges related to allegedly evading taxes on fringe benefits, the people said. For months, the Manhattan district attorney’s office and New York state attorney general’s office have been investigating whether Mr. Weisselberg and other employees illegally avoided paying taxes on perks—such as cars, apartments and private-school tuition—that they received from the Trump Organization.

If prosecutors could show the Trump Organization and its executives systematically avoided paying taxes, they could file more serious charges alleging a scheme, lawyers said.

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Business

Didi Global Prices IPO at $14 a Share

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Chinese ride-hailing goliath Didi Global Inc. priced its IPO at $14 on Tuesday afternoon, according to people familiar with the matter, setting the stage for the company to begin trading Wednesday, after it made a lightning-fast pitch to potential investors.

The company sold more stock than it had planned, though the new deal size couldn’t immediately be learned. Given the upsizing, the pricing would give Didi a market capitalization of more than $67 billion, which would trail U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc.’s roughly $95 billion but land well ahead of Lyft Inc., which sits at roughly $20 billion.

Didi’s fully diluted valuation, which typically includes restricted stock units, would easily eclipse $70 billion at the initial-public-offering price, confirming earlier reports by The Wall Street Journal.

Didi’s pricing comes just three business days after it launched its roadshow, making it one of the shortest investor pitches for an initial public offering in recent memory, according to bankers, investors and lawyers.

Didi ran its roadshow through round-the-clock virtual meetings because of time-zone differences, according to people who participated. Company executives focused on Didi’s scale and potential for continuing growth, the people said. The executives emphasized that 70% of China’s population will live in cities by 2030 and that few people own cars in those cities—and far fewer than in the U.S. Didi argues it is in position to capitalize on that, from shared mobility in general to its investments in electric vehicles and artificial intelligence.

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Business

Sizzling Stock Market Sets High Bar for Earnings Season

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The stock market is running hot entering first-quarter earnings season.

A formidable rally has propelled the S&P 500 up 9.9% this year to 20 record closes, keeping stock valuations at historic highs. Some investors, though, say shares may have more room to run as the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines and bountiful government spending strengthen the outlook for corporate profits.

Earnings season kicks off in earnest this week, with results from America’s big banks—including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co—and companies ranging from Delta Air Lines Inc. to PepsiCo Inc. and UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Investors will be watching for signs of confidence from executives that customer demand will keep rising and cost increases can be managed to help ease their concerns that stocks are looking expensive.

The S&P 500 traded Thursday at 22.6 times its projected earnings over the next 12 months, above the five-year average of 18.14, according to FactSet. Paying up, even for shares of high-quality companies, raises the prospect of muted future returns for shareholders.

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Business

Moderna Covid-19 Vaccine Production Pace to Increase at Contract Manufacturer Catalent

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Contract drug manufacturer Catalent Inc. is expanding its U.S. production of the Covid-19 vaccine from Moderna Inc., a development that could ensure the U.S. has ample supply as it ramps up vaccinations.

Catalent has reached an agreement with Moderna that will increase the speed of vaccine output at the contract manufacturer’s Bloomington, Ind., plant this month to about 400 vials a minute, according to people familiar with the matter.

Catalent will shift manufacturing of the shot to one faster production line from two slower ones. New doses will be ready for shipping starting next month, the people said, and the upgraded plant will be able fill an additional 80 million vials a year.

The expansion will help Moderna reach its goal of supplying an additional 100 million doses to the U.S. by the end of May and another 100 million doses by the end of July.

Production in the U.S. of several authorized vaccines has picked up speed in recent weeks, as manufacturers have scaled up production lines and taken other steps to increase output.

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Science

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Gets Set for Historic First Flight on Another World

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In a hardscrabble crater on Mars, a tiny helicopter with a smartphone brain is now days away from attempting the first powered flight on another world. NASA hopes its spindly robot copter, named Ingenuity, will prove that powered flight is possible in the perilously thin Martian air and help usher in a new era of planetary exploration in which drones play a vital role.

Ingenuity reached Mars like a stowaway, folded up on the underside of NASA’s Perseverance rover, which landed on the red planet in February after a seven-month, 293-million-mile voyage from Earth. For its maiden flight, the 4-pound, $85 million craft will simply rise about 10 feet above the surface and hover—no higher than the rim of a regulation basketball hoop—before returning to the surface. The whole flight should be over within 90 seconds.

The brief excursion—one of five planned for a one-month period expected to start on or about April 11—is a short hop by the measures of interplanetary travel. But agency officials said it would be a giant leap for Mars exploration. In the future, they said, autonomous drones like Ingenuity could take to the skies to explore canyons, ice caps and other terrain that is inaccessible to rovers. Should human explorers ever land on Mars, drones could serve as scouts and aerial sensors.

“We are hoping that Ingenuity allows us to expand and open up aerial mobility on Mars,” said Bob Balaram, the project’s chief engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

The flight of Ingenuity, part of a broader mission to seek signs of past life on the red planet, is the latest in a flurry of notable Mars moments this year.

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