The IPO Buzz: Waystar & Novelis Jump-Start June With a $1.9 Billion Week

Waystar (WAY Proposed), a U.S. provider of healthcare payments software, and Novelis (NVL Proposed), an aluminum producer incorporated in Canada, are jump-starting the June IPO market.  Together, they aim to raise a combined $1.85 billion with their IPOs this week. Two smaller IPOs round out this week’s IPO Calendar: Fly-E Group Ltd. (FLYE Proposed), a New York-based manufacturer of e-bikes, and Gauzy Ltd. (GAUZ Proposed), an Israeli manufacturer of smart glass products. Together, Fly-E Group and Gauzy aim to raise $88.5 million. Altogether, these four IPOs are expected to raise $1.93 billion – if priced at the mid-point of their respective ranges – to get June’s IPO party started. In May, nine IPOs – with combined proceeds of $2.59 billion – started trading. Of those nine IPOs, one was priced on April 30 and began trading on May 1, while the other eight deals were priced in May. Bankers also priced two uplisting deals – with combined proceeds of $64.81 million – in May. For perspective: This week’s IPO Calendar – with $1.93 billion in estimated proceeds from four deals – represents 72.8 percent of the $2.65 billion in actual proceeds in May from 11 deals – nine IPOs and two uplistings. This tally does not include the money raised in May 2024 by SPAC IPOs, a tiny unit IPO and a closed-end fund’s IPO.                                                                                        A Look Back at the Greek Menu In contrast, at this time last year, IPO investors were waiting for CAVA Group (CAVA), the Greek/Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant chain, to disclose the terms for its IPO. CAVA Group filed its IPO’s terms on June 5, 2023 – 14.44 million shares at $17.00 to $19.00 to raise $260.0 million – and increased the price range the following week to $19.00 to $20.00 on the same number of shares. On June 14, 2023, CAVA priced its IPO at $22.00 – $2.00 above range – and sold 14.44 million shares – the number of shares in the prospectus – to raise $317.78 million. CAVA Group’s stock started trading at $42.00 – up $20.00 from its IPO price – on June 15, 2023, in its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. CAVA closed on June 15, 2023, at $43.78 – up $21.78 from its $22.00 IPO price – coming within just 22 cents of scoring a moonshot – defined as an opening-day gain of 100 percent or more. Volume was about 16.5 million shares on CAVA’s first day of trading on the Big Board. As it turned out, CAVA Group ranked among the top 10 IPOs of 2023, based on overall return. On Dec. 29, 2023, the last trading day of the year, CAVA shares closed at $42.98 – up $20.98 from their IPO price for a 95.4 percent gain from their IPO price. Fast forward to mid-2024: CAVA shares closed on Friday, May 31, 2024, at $92.55 – up $50.55 from their June 2023 IPO price of $42.00 – on volume of 6.13 million shares. June 2024 – This Week’s IPO Playbook Let’s take a look at the playbook for early June 2024. Four IPOs are on this week’s IPO Calendar. The deals in this round-up are organized by pricing date. Pricing Tuesday night to trade Wednesday, June 5, 2024: Fly-E Group Ltd. (FLYE Proposed), a profitable e-bike manufacturer that caters to the food delivery industry, plans to offer 3.0 million shares at a price range of $4.00 to $5.00 to raise $13.5 million. The company, based in Flushing, New York, makes e-motorcycles and e-scooters. The Benchmark Company is the sole book-runner. Pricing Wednesday night to trade Thursday, June 6, 2024: Gauzy Ltd. (GAUZ Proposed), based in Tel Aviv, Israel, is a manufacturer of smart glass film coatings used in the automotive, aviation and architecture markets. Gauzy plans to offer 4.17 million shares at a price range of $17.00 to $19.00 to raise $75.0 million. The company has incurred net losses since its inception in 2009. Gauzy’s blue-chip clients include Boeing, Mercedes-Benz and Avery Dennison, the prospectus says. Barclays, TD Cowen Securities, Stifel, B. Riley Securities and Beech Hill Securities are the joint book-runners. Novelis Inc. (NVL Proposed) describes itself as “the leading provider of innovative sustainable aluminum solutions and the world’s largest recycler of aluminum,” according to the prospectus. Novelis Inc.’s IPO consists of 45.0 million shares – all offered by the selling shareholder – at a price range of $18.00 to $21.00 – to raise $877.5 million, if priced at the mid-point of its range.  The company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the selling shareholder’s stock; in other words, Novelis will not receive any of the IPO proceeds. Morgan Stanley, BofA Securities, Citigroup, Wells Fargo Securities, Deutsche Bank Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets are the joint book-runners. Novelis, incorporated in Canada, has a U.S. headquarters in Atlanta. The profitable company makes aluminum for beverage packaging as well as for the automotive, aerospace and specialties markets at 32 plants in North America, Europe, Asia and South America, according to the prospectus. Novelis intends to pay a quarterly dividend, the prospectus says. Pricing Thursday night to trade Friday, June 7, 2024: Waystar Holding Corp. (WAY Proposed), a provider of cloud-based payments software for the U.S. healthcare industry, plans to offer 45.0 million shares at a price range of $20.00 to $23.00 to raise $967.5 million, if priced at the mid-point of its range. J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, William Blair, Evercore ISI, BofA Securities, RBC Capital Markets and Deutsche Bank Securities are the joint book-runners. Waystar reported a net loss for the 12 months that ended March 31, 2024. EQT, one of the world’s largest private equity investors, is Waystar’s largest principal shareholder, with a pre-IPO stake of 40 percent, the prospectus says. Stay tuned. (For more information about these companies, please check the IPO Calendar and the individual IPO Profiles found on IPOScoop.com’s website.) Note: Never trade on proposed symbols. They have been known to change and you might buy something on the OTC Bulletin Board. To see what time the NASDAQ IPOs are expected to trade, please log in to: NASDAQTrader.com then scroll down to IPO Message. Disclosure: Nobody on the IPOScoop.com staff has a position in any stocks mentioned above, nor do they trade or invest in IPOs. The IPOScoop.com staff does not issue advice, recommendations or opinions. Disclaimer: A SCOOP Rating (Wall Street Consensus of Opening-day Premiums) is a general consensus taken, at press time, from Wall Street and investment professionals concerning how well an IPO might perform when it starts trading. The SCOOP Rating does not reflect the opinions of anyone associated with IPOScoop.com. The SCOOP ratings should not be taken as investment advice. The rating merely reflects the opinion of the professionals at the time of publication and is subject to last-minute changes due to market conditions, changes in a specific offering and other factors, such as changes in the proposed offering terms and the shifting of investor interest in the IPO. The information offered is taken from sources we believe to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee the accuracy.