Compass Jumps In Early Trading After Slashing Stock Price For IPO
Compass' entry into the public market took a ride on the value roller coaster.
The online brokerage and real estate service provider officially joined the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday after announcing on Wednesday that it had lowered the target price of its shares from the previously announced $23-$26 range to an $18-$19 range, Bloomberg reports. It then immediately outperformed that price in early trading, opening at $21.25 per share.
Compass' Wednesday repricing also came with a smaller offering, from the initial target of 36 million shares to 25 million. That slashed Compass' fundraising target from $936M to $475M — and by Wednesday evening, it had only hit its low target of $18 per share and raised $450M, Bloomberg reports.
Though Compass co-founders Robert Reffkin and Ori Allon rang the NYSE's opening bell on Thursday to formally signal its IPO, it did not begin officially trading until midday, and as of 12:25 p.m. ET its valuation was hovering around $21 per share, or just under a 17% increase from its IPO price.
After its IPO fundraise, which was led by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital, Compass' market capitalization stood at $7B, or $600M more than it was valued as of its last private funding round in 2019. Including employee stock options and restricted stock units, its fully diluted valuation could crack $9B, Bloomberg reports.
Its largest private backer was SoftBank Vision Fund, the venture capital arm of Japanese financier SoftBank Group, best known for pumping billions into WeWork through its own valuation fluctuation. An amendment to Compass' S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicated that Reffkin, SoftBank and a third primary backer will retain a combined 40% ownership of the company, The Real Deal reports.
That third primary backer could be Discovery Capital Management, which Bloomberg reports is listed in the S-1 as a major shareholder.
UPDATE, APRIL 1, 12:45 P.M. ET: This story has been updated to reflect Compass' stock price after it began publicly trading.
