The IFR US ECM Roundtable will take place on the afternoon of Thursday October 24 2019 in New York.

Now in its eighth year, the event will bring together a panel of the most senior ECM practitioners to assess the current state of the market, discuss the latest trends and developments and provide an outlook for the remainder of the year and beyond.

Joining IFR’s US Editor, Stephen Lacey, will be:

• Anna Pinedo – Partner, Mayer Brown

• Craig DeDomenico – Managing Director, Stifel

• Warren Fixmer – Managing Director ECM, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

• Michael Kuchmek – Head of Equity Capital Markets, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC.

• Robert McCooey – Senior Vice President of Nasdaq Listings

• David Bauer – Head of Public Equity Markets, KKR

• Elisabeth D. De Fontenay – Professor of Law, Duke University

Topics to be discussed will include:

• State of the IPO market

• At $42.7bn YTD, IPO volumes are at a $56bn run-rate for the year and are trending toward a five-year high.

• Unicorns have figured prominently among this year’s new listings, with 30-plus unicorns debuting this year versus 20 in all of 2018 and 13 in 2017.

• Venture-backed IPO issuance (45 deals totaling $18bn YTD) stands at seven-year high and PE-backed IPOs (10, $6.1bn) at near post-crisis low.

• VC-backed IPOs are larger than ever and more highly valued at the time of their IPOs.

• IPOs have significantly underperformed the broader market, with the average 2019 US debut just 5% above offer versus a 17% YTD return for the S&P 500.

• Ride-sharing unicorns Lyft (-44.5%) and Uber (-32.5%) are high-profile underperformers early in the year, but have been joined more recently by disappointing debuts of Peloton (-18.9%) and SmileDirectClub (-41.4%).

• More than 300 unicorns remain private with a combined valuation of $1.2trn.

• Which industries/companies are transforming the economy?

• Pinterest, Lyft and Uber take investment case to the public markets to varying success.

1. Pinterest takes down-round amid operational overhaul but delivers good gains

2. Lyft and Uber crash on debut as private-funding overhang overwhelms public market bid, raising questions about investor lock-up agreements for companies that have raised large sums before they go public.

• Beyond Meat soars beyond belief, surging 160% on debut in May and 480%-plus in the aftermarket, valuing the fake meat maker at nearly $9bn. How did investment banks contend with investor food fight at the IPO and manage the $600m follow-on offering just two months later.

• Zoom Communications, the video collaboration platform, drew one of the highest-quality books of demand for its IPO. Cybersecurity also remains a durable investment theme with strong demand for Crowdstrike, Tufin Software

• WeWork, what happened and who’s to blame?

• Office-sharing provider withdrew IPO after spectacular mismatch between the private and public markets.

• Investment banks agreed to extend $6bn of credit, contingent upon $3bn raise on the IPO, after pitching that $100bn-plus valuation was attainable.

• WeWork is now being forced to seek private funding at a significantly lower valuation and re-work its business.

• Direct listings as alternative to the traditional IPO: threat or opportunity?

• Slack, the work collaboration software provider, initially found success with its direct listing in May but has struggled since.

• iHeartMedia also listed directly, a more traditional candidate given its recent emergence from bankruptcy protection.

• Venture capitalists are advocating direct listings as alternative to traditional IPOs, suggesting that the traditional IPO processes are “broken”.

• What role do investment banks, stock exchanges play in the process?

• SPACs: financial engineering in a bull market or durable funding vehicle?

• SPACs raise $9.1bn YTD, trending toward third consecutive year of $10bn-plus issuance.

• With the funding spree, there are 75 SPACs with $18.2bn of capital looking for acquisitions.

• Virgin Galactic $1.3bn merger with Social Hedosophia SPAC provides lift to asset class.

• OneSpaWorld gains alternative liquidity for sponsor Catterton through $925m acquisition by Haymaker Acquisition SPAC, allowing hedge funds and long-only funds to roll over into publicly traded company.

• Impact of Nasdaq’s new listing requirements on SPACs?

• Market outlook.

• How will the IPO market fare in an election year and with many forecasting a recession? Particularly politically sensitive sectors like healthcare that make up a huge amount of deal flow?

• Living in low-interest rate world. What impact do low interest rates, flat/inverted yield curve have on ECM?

The event is free to attend, but you must be registered. To secure your place, please click on the green ‘register’ button on this page.