Dreamstime
the last stock issuance of May, listed its shares with a decent gain, marking the latest sign that the IPO market is rebounding.
The stock opened at $20.25 and hit a high of $24.83. Centessa (ticker: CNTA) shares closed at $21.75, up nearly 9% from its offer price.
Centessa is the latest traditional initial public offering to gain in the aftermarket. On Thursday, Day One Biopharmaceuticals (DAWN), a biotech, soared nearly 62%, while FIGS (FIGS), which sells attractive scrubs, jumped 36%, and Singular Genomics Systems (OMIC) added nearly 17%.
Three deals on Wednesday delivered solid debuts as well. Flywire (FLYW) and
(PAY), both payments companies, rose 46% and 35%, respectively. ZipRecruiter (ZIP), the online employment marketplace, which went public via a direct listing, saw its shares rise 17.2% from its reference price.
The respectable performances came after Oatly (OTLY), the plant-based food company, rose 18.8% in its debut last week, while
(PCOR), a provider of cloud-based construction-management software, increased 31.3%. Last week’s direct listing from Squarespace (SQSP), the web hosting company, also added 13% in its first day of trading.
The series of gains come after a broad market sell off earlier in May caused three companies to delay their offerings. Several other IPOs closed below their offering prices during their debuts, making them so-called broken deals. Similarweb (SMWB), which provides website analytics for businesses, has yet to trade above its $22 offer price. Waterdrop (WDH), a Chinese insurtech, remains below its $12 IPO price, while Talis Therapeutics (TALS) is also trading off its $17 offer price.
Matt Kennedy, senior IPO market strategist at Renaissance Capital, said all the traditional IPOs during the past two weeks have outperformed, delivering double-digit gains.
The
(IPO) has rebounded 13% from its year low of $54.03 on May 13 but is still down 3% for the year, Kennedy said. The
has gained nearly 14%.
“We are on solid footing heading into the summer,” he said. “We’re still negative for the year, still underperforming the S&P 500, but the recent three weeks of performance should give us a nice lift,” he said.
Centessa, the only IPO to trade Friday, was also the latest to increase the size of its deal. All the companies that debuted on Thursday—FIGS, Singular Genomics, and Day One– boosted their IPOs.
Centessa raised $330 million after selling 16.5 million ADS at $20 each. This is up from the 15 million ADS at $18 to $20 each the company had planned to sell. Each ADS represents one ordinary share.
and
are underwriters on the deal.
Launched in February, Centessa, which is based in the U.K., functions as a holding company for several biotech businesses that were controlled by the venture firms Medicxi or Index Ventures, or received investments from them.
Centessa also raised a $250 million Series A round led by General Atlantic in February.
The biotech companies, which are still in the development stage and aren’t generating revenue. are working in oncology, hematology, immunology, inflammation, neuroscience, and rare diseases. The company reported a pro forma loss of $22.5 million for the quarter ended March 31, according to the prospectus for the deal.
Medicxi will own nearly 20% of Centessa after the IPO, while Index Ventures will have 11.5% and General Atlantic, 9.4%, the prospectus said.
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