Post-Twitter hype will find many happy homes 7 Nov 2013 True to form, bankers, venture capitalists and investors are chasing the next big thing. After years of eagerly anticipating Facebook, and then Twitter, there’s no one Silicon Valley blockbuster up next. Pinterest, Square, Airbnb, MongoDB and others will fill the enthusiasm gap.
Twitter’s public debut is yin to Facebook’s yang 7 Nov 2013 Facebook’s 2012 IPO was blowout excess. Twitter has carefully managed expectations. Both are a curious mix of cynicism and belief – redistributed among bankers, backers, executives and prospective investors. When it comes to hot IPOs, everyone is reacting to recent history.
U.S. investors’ love of tech defeats fear of China 6 Nov 2013 Shareholders are snapping up Chinese technology stocks listing in the United States. It’s a contrast with recent years, when accounting and governance scandals led many to shun mainland shares. Though red flags remain, the lure of rapid revenue growth is trumping caution.
UK’s new investor safeguards strike right balance 5 Nov 2013 Independent investors in London-listed stocks are getting new rights. These will mean the relationships between companies and controlling shareholders are policed more carefully. This should prevent governance debacles, without giving minority investors too much power.
Twitter’s new $1.75 bln IPO value: Hype or spot on? 4 Nov 2013 The newswire of humankind boosted the price range of its debut by a third. That sets Twitter’s worth, at up to $14 bln, above its most recent internal value. Breakingviews’ latest calculator offers a way for prospective investors to decide whether that’s too much, or just right.
Chrysler needs $18 bln valuation to justify IPO 30 Oct 2013 That’s the point where the union trust fund that owns 41.5 percent of the Detroit automaker would reap more than it could ever get from Fiat. Hitting that figure is doable but would require margins to double by 2015 and investors to forgo a minority discount. It’s a big gamble.
Numericable will be a harder sell than rivals 28 Oct 2013 The French cable firm is preparing an IPO at an enterprise value of up to $7.7 bln. M&A and rising valuations in the sector are a helpful backdrop. Yet customer uptake has been low in France and satisfaction patchy. Numericable needs to show its fast broadband offers real growth.
Twitter avoids Facebook IPO overreach – thus far 25 Oct 2013 The microblogging site’s early public offer pricing is $17-$20 a share. Breakingviews calculations suggest that’s modest by available metrics, though without profit these require faith. At least Twitter seems to be avoiding the premature heights of Facebook’s flawed 2012 debut.
China bank IPO shows rewards of financial alchemy 24 Oct 2013 Bank of Chongqing’s remarkable 32 percent return on equity relies on a trick that is all the rage for the country’s lenders: repackaging loans to look like low-risk investments in other banks. For investors it’s a profit opportunity. For regulators, it’s a potential nightmare.
Merlin has attractions for IPO investors 22 Oct 2013 A float could value the global theme-park operator at 4 bln stg, including debt. It’s spent ages backed by private equity and done lots of M&A. Yet the IPO case is solid. Growth should come from exporting proven tourist formats - such as waxworks and aquariums - to new markets.
Alibaba creative governance should come at a cost 22 Oct 2013 New York says the Chinese e-commerce group could list with a structure that lets insiders nominate directors. Hong Kong regulators disagreed. The debate is really about the value of shareholder democracy. Investors should be wary of giving up their rights cheaply.
Hope tweets eternal for Twitter IPO valuation 18 Oct 2013 Early disorganization and a late focus on the top line make the microblogging service seem younger than Facebook when it went public. Twitter is in the red, but revenue is growing faster than at Mark Zuckerberg’s outfit. How many billions that becomes depends on animal spirits.
Mark Zuckerberg’s new IPO religion wins disciples 17 Oct 2013 The Facebook founder’s early contempt for going public was supposed to influence a generation of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. The stock’s calamitous debut only reinforced the disdain. Zuckerberg and Facebook have come around, though – and many other tech firms are set to follow.
Royal Mail’s soaring shares defy logic 11 Oct 2013 The newly privatised British postal service is an unlikely candidate for irrational exuberance. The nearly 500-year-old outfit has turned itself round but growth prospects are at best pedestrian. Blame hype, yield-seeking, and investors getting ahead of themselves on valuation.
Lloyds can’t get too cocky after Royal Mail pop 11 Oct 2013 The state-backed bank must be tempted to focus its next share sale on small punters after they helped turbocharge the postal service’s IPO. But political touchiness about Lloyds’ in-price makes a retail-only sale complicated. Lloyds should target a broad mix of buyers instead.
Royal Mail set to deliver IPO at right price 10 Oct 2013 It may not seem that way, if shares in the privatised UK postal service pop to a chunky premium. The British government could have asked for more money, or held back more shares to sell later at a higher price. But Royal Mail’s peculiarities justify the choice of tactics.
Wall Street lets itself go for dance rave IPO 9 Oct 2013 Investors shelled out $260 mln to get past the velvet ropes and into the debut of SFX, Robert Sillerman’s electronic dance music promotion roll-up. Besides an overdose of Molly, the best explanation may be the “my grandson likes that Skrillex guy” school of stock investing.
Twitter’s sky-high R&D hits the right spot 4 Oct 2013 At 44 pct of revenue, the microblogging site is spending far more than Facebook. But with a lower number of users than its rival, Twitter needs to grow to make new investors happy. Hiring engineers at a fast clip to build new features and services is the best way to deliver that.
Twitter stakes claim as least-evil tech IPO 4 Oct 2013 The microblog service’s $1 bln filing is a model of simplicity. There’s one class of stock. Existing investors aren’t selling. The CEO hasn’t written a sappy letter. And growth is roaring. Twitter still faces risks, but avoiding many Silicon Valley excesses is encouraging.
LVMH finds way to keep talent: list it 2 Oct 2013 Shares in Louis Vuitton’s parent company took a hit on news that creative director Marc Jacobs is off. He will focus on a flotation of his fast-growing namesake label, which is part-owned by LVMH. Bernard Arnault may have found an original way to keep hot designers in the family.