On The Menu This Week: Bojangles IPO Launches On Friday

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Bojangles

About a month ago, Brokerdealer.com’s blog update covered the southern comfort fast food chain based out of North Carolina, Bojangles, announcement that it would be going public with an IPO after 38 years. On Friday, May 8,2015, Bojangles will officially launch its IPO under the ticker BOJA on the NASDAQ. There are several other IPOs coming out on the menu this week ranging in a wide variety of industries, but Bojangles has set itself apart from the rest.

To learn what sets Bojangles apart from the rest continue reading below and then contact a brokerdealer to invest in this hot new IPO yourself. 

This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of Benzinga’s article, “IPO Outlook: Down-Home Cookin’, Fast-Casual Bojangles’ Sizzles Investors“, with an excerpt below. 

To say it’s a jam-packed week for the IPO market is an understatement. With twelve IPOs scheduled – ranging from biotechs, REITs, MLPs and a hot restaurant – investors have quite a menu to choose from.

Southeastern restaurant chain Bojangles’ Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ: BOJA) plans to raise $122 million through 6.3 million shares expecting to price between $15 and $17 on Friday.

Bojangles’ will trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker BOJA.

It’s Bo Time

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bojangles’ joins the other fast-casual restaurants that recently tapped the public markets due to both consumer and investor strong enthusiasm.

The company started in 1977 with a menu centered on “chicken ‘n biscuits” and since has remained relatively unchanged. To put it in context, Bojangles’s is the chicken joint to the Southern realm eateries what Shake Shack Inc SHAK 1.52% is to the burger space in metropolitan areas.

What Makes The ‘Bo Difference’

The company has what it calls the “Bo Difference,” allowing it to grow profits and create a loyal customer base. Its self-described high quality, tasty Southern food is characterized by breakfast biscuits, never frozen bone-in fried chicken, dirty rice, sandwiches, wraps, unique fixin’s, legendary iced tea and its Bo Smart menu.

Bojangles’ five meal offerings include breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and after dinner. Its decision to serve breakfast all day, every day, gives it an edge over its competitors that typically serve breakfast for a limited time or start service with lunch. This edge has paid off as Bojangles’ says in its S-1 that it generates 38 percent of its revenue from 11 a.m. to closing (typically 11 p.m.), or $650,000 on average just from breakfast alone.

To continue reading about this sizzling southern IPO, click here.

 

Australia’s IPO Listing Is Complete Opposite From One Year Ago

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Australian IPOs

Brokerdealer.com blog update profiles the low number of IPOs Australia has produced. After a record setting year in 2014, Australia’s list of IPOs has dropped dramatically. An article from DNA India’s titled “After record IPO year, Australian listings shrink to almost nothing“, highlights several possibilities as to why the drop in IPOs could be. An excerpt from the article is below.

Australian IPOs have virtually dried up after a record year, taking their cue from a subdued stock market as investors fret about the country’s commodities bust and China’s weakening economy.

After an unprecedented $15 billion of initial public offerings last year, companies raised $327 million in January-to-March, Thomson Reuters data shows. That’s down 96% from a year earlier and a fraction of the $7.5 billion
in the previous quarter. The drop-off reflects the skittish mood in Australian equities. While the market bounced 7% in January following a weak 2014 finish, it has since failed to make headway as investors shrug off record low
interest rates and watch the all-important iron ore price sink.

The average size of an IPO in the March quarter was $30 million, down from $270 million in the December quarter and $100 million a year earlier. Last year, many private equity firms offloaded assets they had held since the aftermath of the global financial crisis. This year has been marked by just one big listing and a spate of tiny IPOs by small companies. “We’ve had a very long bull market since the bottom in ’08, and we find it hard to find value,” said Geoff Wilson, chairman of Wilson Asset Management, which bought shares in Monday’s market debutant MYOB.

To continue reading about the fall in Australian IPOs, click here.

McGraw-Hill Education IPO Could Be Here Just In Time For Back To School

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The school year may be winding down but investors are already looking forward to the back to school season for a likely launch of textbook company, McGraw-Hill Education’s initial public offering. Brokerdealer.com blog update profiles one of the largest educational publishers in the world, McGraw-Hill Education, and the rumors surrounding around the likelihood that they will be launching an IPO just in time for the new school year. This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of Fortune and their article, “McGraw-Hill Education said to be preparing for IPO“, with an excerpt below.  

McGraw-Hill Education is planning an initial public offering (IPO) as early as the fourth quarter of this year, potentially valuing the textbook company at around $5 billion, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company’s owner, private equity firm Apollo Global Management, has held talks with investment banks about the IPO, though their underwriter roles will not be finalized before the summer, four people said this week.

McGraw-Hill Education would aim to go public near the end of the year, following the back-to-school season when it generates the bulk of its revenue through textbook sales, the people added.

A spokesman for McGraw-Hill Education did not immediately respond to a request for a comment, while a spokesman for Apollo declined to comment.

New York-based company McGraw-Hill Education is one of the largest educational publishers in the world, selling textbooks for school and university students and professionals in about 60 languages. It competes withPearson Plcand Cengage Learning Inc, and, like its peers, has sought to make most of its offerings available on the Internet as more people read books on tablets and phones.

To continue reading about McGraw-Hill Education’s IPO, click here.

 

Finra CEO Pumps The Breaks On Massive Data-Collection Proposal

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Brokerdealer.com blog profiles Finra CEO’s, Rich Ketchum, decision to stop working on the proposal for a massive data-collection system with concerns over secruity issues. Ketchum is expected to report to Congress tomorrow, Friday, May 1, 2015, to explain why. Since the proposal’s start it has received much resistance by others in the industry due to fear of putting the clients and risk and seems Finra is now starting to agree. This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of InvestmentNews’ Mark Schoeff Jr.  and his article, “Finra CEO Rick Ketchum backs off data collection plan“, with an excerpt below.

Finra is putting the brakes on its proposal for a massive data-collection system over concerns about the security of customer information, the organization’s chief executive is expected to tell Congress on Friday.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has received strong industry resistance to its so-called Comprehensive Automated Risk Data System over its potential costs and the possibility that it will expose customer data to hackers. The comment period for the proposal ended on Dec. 1 last year.

In prepared testimony, Finra chief executive Rick Ketchum said that although CARDS will not collect client names, addresses and Social Security numbers, Finra shares concerns about “bad actors” being able to obtain information that “could possibly be reengineered to identify individuals.”

The regulator is studying the potential data-security threats, Mr. Ketchum will tell the House Financial Services Committee, and is evaluating whether CARDS data can be collected through “existing data sources.”

To continue reading about what Ketchum is expected to tell Congress tomorrow, click here.

Overstock Looking Into Brokerdealers Only Bitcoin-Style Exchange

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Utah Software Engineer Mints Physical Bitcoins

Brokerdealer.com blog update profiles the continued intergration of the popular cyrpto currency, Bitcoin, as Overstock has revealed plans that it may issue up to $500 million in stock through blockchain-style technology, such as bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a form of currency that is tied directly to the Internet and is the world’s first free market, decentralized global currency. It is operated through an open-source software so there is no central control unlike the US dollar or Euro. Similarly to gold, only 21,000,000 Bitcoins will ever be created so the value of the Bitcoin continues to rise as time goes on. Bitcoins can be exchanged for goods and services as well as currencies such as the US dollar and the Euro. As long as people trust that Bitcoin has value, people will continue to invest in it.

Brokerdealer.com’s database has many qualified brokerdealers who are prepared to help you navigate the world of Bitcoin and how you can use it to your advantage when it comes to investing. 

Overstock is an American online retailer headquartered in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. It initially sold surplus and returned merchandise on an online e-commerce marketplace but in recent years has expanded to sell new merchandise as well. 

This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of Finextra News’ article, “Overstock looks to issue Bitcoin-style stocks” with an excerpt below.

Last year Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne hired developers and lawyers in an effort to create a platform – dubbed ‘Medici’ – that could use the core blockchain technology to create a cryptosecurity trading system, in which computer algorithms are used to trade virtual stocks issued by public companies.

The firm has now filed a prospectus related to the sale of securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission, adding: “We may decide to offer any of the securities described in this prospectus as digital securities, meaning the securities will be uncertificated securities, the ownership and transfer of which are recorded on a cryptographically-secured distributed ledger system using technology similar to (or the same as) the distributed ledger technology used for trading digital currencies.”

The prospectus says that these digital securities would not be traded on any existing exchange but on a specific system registered with the SEC as an ATS open only to subscribers that agree to trade exclusively through vetted broker dealers.

To continue reading about the brokerdealer-only Bitcoin exchange plan for Overstock, click here. Additional coverage on this story can also be found at MarketsMuse.com .