Investors who may be wondering where all the UK IPOs have gone will have to look east, because this is where all the action is. Let’s start with Rakuten Bank, the Japanese online banking group, which listed in Tokyo on Friday and demonstrated that it is still possible for a share price to surge post-IPO.
Rakuten stock was up over +40% in trading on Friday in Japan. The company is an internet bank which used to be part of Rakuten, the largest e-commerce company in Japan. The IPO raised over $625m.
Rakuten Bank benefited we think from strong awareness of its brand on the street. It was established in 2000 and really broke the mould for online banking in Japan. Letting the stock list separately to Rakuten the internet group seems like a smart ploy, as Rakuten Bank went to market with the inherent economics of a savvy financial services player without the issues of parent Rakuten group’s losses in the mobile telecommunications sector.
Also worth considering is that foreign investors are getting more interested in Japan Inc again. Fund managers can see how cheaply priced some of the opportunities are in Japan; we’ve written before on this site about how some of the stories in Japan are simply awesome, but they don’t get talked about much outside Japan.
U Power smashes this year’s US IPO record
While we are on the topic of crazy Asian IPO surges, there was massive interest in the US this week on the IPO of U Power, a stock which was halted at least 22 times after it went live on the NASDAQ Capital Market. This is a start up in the Chinese battery space, focusing on battery-swapping technology in electric vehicles. It was priced at $6, but stock went as high as $75 on the day, before closing out at a staggering $43.
U Power is already considered to be the best IPO debut for a stock in the US this year, but it also demonstrates the huge level of enthusiasm for investors in the simply massive Chinese electric vehicle sector.
Ant Group could go public this year
We also understand that China’s Ant Group, owned by Alibaba Group, could IPO this year, according to MSA Capital, a venture capital firm. As we know, this would not be Ant’s first attempt at an IPO, but if it pushes forward, interest in the stock will be intense, and obviously both London and the US will be keen to see listings.
MSA says there is no concrete timeline for the IPO as yet, but they reckon it will be within the next 12 months. But investors may want to keep some powder dry, as Alibaba Group will also potentially be looking to IPO other parts of its empire going forward.
SeatGeek files for IPO in the US
In other news, US ticketing technology play SeatGeek has filed for an IPO with regulators having already failed to go public in 2022 using the RedBall SPAC. This would have been a big deal, valuing SeatGeek at $1.35bn, but tough market conditions in the summer effectively torpedoed this.
With the pandemic in the rear view window, and live events taking off, SeatGeek is expecting to make over $500m in revenue this year, making it a closely watched IPO when it comes to market in the US. The company provides a technology platform for sports teams and fans in the US to buy and sell tickets and it is now the official ticket marketplace for Major League Baseball.
