Etsy Vendors Will Be Able To Invest In Themselves

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Etsy

Brokerdealer.com’s blog update continues coverage of the Etsy IPO. On Thursday, Etsy’s IPO will finally be launched, they have unique plan to target small investors and focus on fewer big investors as part of its plan for their IPO and now it has been release that Etsy’s vendors will be able to invest in themselves. Etsy has set aside 5% of shares for Etsy vendors to purchase through a Morgan Stanley program. The vendors can buy between $100-$2,500 worth of Etsy stocks, how much vendors get will ultimately depend on the pricing and demand of Etsy’s IPO. This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of the Wall Street Journal’s article, “Etsy Vendors to Get a Piece of IPO“, with an excerpt below. 

Jeni Sandberg usually deals in vintage and collectible items, not in hot new stocks. Still, the home-based art appraiser and consultant plans to take a stake in Etsy Inc. when shares in the online marketplace go public this week.

Ms. Sandberg, who lives in Raleigh, N.C., has been a vendor on Etsy for five years, earning income from her sales there and from work as an art consultant. A former specialist at auction house Christie’s, she manages her own investments and is “by no means a massive player in the financial market.”

When it comes to initial public offerings of stock, “you’re always told, ‘You can’t participate. You’re not part of a financial syndicate. Go away, little person,’” she said.

Etsy, whose IPO is expected to price Wednesday and begin trading Thursday, sought to remedy that lack of access for its vendors and other small investors with a program that gives them the opportunity to buy as much as $2,500 in Etsy stock just before its public float, which aims to raise as much as $267 million. Ms. Sandberg plans to claim her full allotment. “This, I want to do,” she said.

To read the full article from the Wall Street Journal, click here.

Tech IPO Looks To Out Fund Etsy

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IPO

Last week brokerdealer.com‘s blog profiled the different practice the peer-to-peer e-commerce company, Etsy, planned to use for its own billion dollar  IPO. Now a little known New York tech company, Virtu Financial, is planning to launch its own billion dollar IPO this week that will rival Etsy’s. This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of Crain’s New York Business’s article, “The $1B-plus startup IPO coming this week that’s not Etsy“, below is an excerpt.

The long, cold winter has ended,and the thaw is extending to the IPO market. Etsy, Brooklyn’s sentimental favorite,is making headlines with a public offering this week that could raise as much as $267 million, giving it a valuation of nearly $1.8 billion.

But another New York tech company, one that you’ve probably never heard of, is also going public this week—and it plans to raise more money than Etsy. Virtu Financial, a high-speed trading firm, believes investors will fork over as much as $361 million for shares that would make it worth $2.6 billion.

Hard to warm to

Virtu, founded in 2008, is not the sort of company you easily warm up to. It put off a public offering last year when the Michael Lewis book Flash Boys shone a highly unflattering light on high-speed trading. (The Wall Street Journal points out that Virtu has since allied itself with a company that doesn’t hurt other investors with its trading technology and that it earned a favorable mention in the paperback edition of the book.)

Etsy, meanwhile, has made news with an IPO strategy that has been described variously as handcrafted and artisanal. It is spreading the wealth around among smaller investors by putting a cap of $2,500 on the amount of stock that retail in-vestors can buy.

To continue read this article from Crain’s New York Business, click here.

Etsy’s IPO Plan Is Very Crafty

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stay-handmade-etsy

Etsy is a peer-to-peer e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items and supplies, as well as unique factory-manufactured items. Last month, brokerdealer.com profiled  Etsy’s preperation for an IPO, now new details are emerging about Etsy’s plan for its IPO. Etsy hopes to target small investors and focus on fewer big investors as part of its plan for their IPO. By using this unusual practice, Etsy hopes to gain shareholders who share in Etsy’s commitment to socially responsible business practices. This brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of the Wall Street Journal’s article, “Even Etsy’s Initial Public Offering Process Is Artisanal” with an excerpt below.

Leave it to Etsy Inc. to craft an artisanal public offering.

The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based online marketplace for handmade and vintage goods has altered the playbook for its initial public offering, launching an expansive effort to attract small investors and focusing on fewer big investors, according to people familiar with the deal.

The custom-made process is intended to build a shareholder base that is on board with what Etsy says is its commitment to socially responsible business practices and its plans to spend heavily on marketing to grow its membership over the next few years, the people said.

But going off script comes with some risk. The moves include limiting the amount of stock retail investors can get in the IPO to $2,500 so more individuals can take part, and concentrating many of the shares among a relatively small number of big holders. The approach could turn off some traders whose presence can help stabilize a stock once it begins trading.

To continue reading about Etsy’s plan for its IPO from the Wall Street Journal, click here.

Bojangles’ Filing Takes IPO Down South

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bojangles

Bojangles is a chain fast food restaurant that is based out of North Carolina. They are most well known for their spicy, “Cajun” fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits. After being around for 38 years, the company has decide to go public and filed for an IPO earlier this week. Bojangles is expected to raise $372 million from the initial public offering. Brokerdealer.com blog update profiling Bojangles’ IPO and key things to know about Bojangles before investing in their IPO is courtesy of MarketWatch. An excerpt from Ciarra Linnane of MarketWatch’s article “6 things to know about Bojangles’ ahead of its IPO“.

Chicken-and-biscuit restaurant chain Bojangles’ Inc. has filed for an initial public offering. The North Carolina-based company has tapped Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Securities, and Jefferies as lead book runners on the deal. The company is planning to list on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol “BOJA.”

Here are six things to know about Bojangles’:

It doesn’t meddle with its menu

Bojangles’ menu hasn’t changed much since it opened its first outlet in Charlotte, N.C., in 1977, according to its IPO prospectus. The company now boasts 622 stores across 10 states and Washington, D.C., but is still famous for its bone-in fried chicken, its buttery biscuits and its home-brewed — sorry, that’s home-steeped — ice tea.

It is very U.S. focused

Bojangles’ is very much a domestic U.S. operation. It currently operates in Alabama, Washington, D.C., Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. Internationally, it has three restaurants, all of them located in Honduras.

To read the other four things to know about Bojangles and its IPO, click here.

 

Restructuring Advisement Firm, Houlihan Lokey, Sets Sites On $200m IPO

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Houlihan Lokey

Brokerdealer.com blog update profiles the restructuing firm, Houlihan Lokey Inc., who is usually helping other companies have succuessful mergers and acquistions, is planning its own step to more success by preparing to launch an intial public offering that could raise at least $200 million.  This Brokerdealer.com blog update is courtesy of the Wall Street Journal article, “Houlihan Lokey Lays Groundwork for IPO“, an excerpt from the article is below.

Houlihan Lokey Inc., known for advising companies on midsize mergers and acquisitions and big bankruptcies, is gearing up for a deal of its own.

The firm is planning for an initial public offering of stock this year, according to people familiar with the matter, which would make it the latest independent investment bank to cash in on increasing client and investor demand. A Houlihan IPO could raise more than $200 million, the people said. Based on valuations of similar firms, Houlihan could be worth more than $1.5 billion.

The firm, founded in 1972, has been investigating a possible IPO since last year, and recently decided to move forward with one, the people said. Houlihan is discussing the plan with banks interested in arranging the deal, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp., though any share sale isn’t expected until the second half of the year, the people added.

To read the entire article on the Wall Street Journal’s website, click here.