IPOs play a role in upcoming additions to the list
May 21, 2016 at 2:20PM
The maker of medical devices to treat lymphatic disorders filed on Jan. 25 an initial registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company appears to be making progress. It has filed two amendments to its initial registration statement, the latest on May 6. (It is common for a company to send multiple amendments to the SEC before an IPO is priced.)
Tactile Systems would be the first Minnesota-based public company to complete a significant IPO since Plymouth-based Entellus Medical completed one on Jan. 29, 2015, selling 4.6 million shares at $17 per share to raise $78.2 million.
According to data from Renaissance Capital, a manager of IPO-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs), only 26 U.S. companies have completed IPOs this year, compared with 64 at the same point last year. Tactile Systems does have one advantage in completing its IPO. Of the 26 U.S. companies to complete IPOs this year, 16 of them have been health care companies.
Plymouth-based Entellus Medical, the last significant IPO in Minnesota, makes a balloon sinus dilation device that treats chronic sinusitis. Entellus' stock closed at $16 a share on May 17.
One of the reasons the Star Tribune 100 is short of 100 companies has been the lack of IPOs completed by Minnesota companies. Over the last five years, Minnesota has produced only seven new public companies through IPOs.
Poor aftermarket performance from recent IPOs has not helped.
Renaissance Capital's IPO Index, which includes companies that completed IPOs during the last two years, has been down 7.3 percent in 2016.
The availability of other forms of capital also means companies may be slower to progress to an IPO or they may have a different end game such as an acquisition.
John Potter, a partner in the Minneapolis office of PricewaterhouseCoopers and an expert on mergers and acquisition activity, believes there are candidates for IPOs here. "There is no shortage of companies with the size, scale and value, but they've found capital elsewhere," Potter said. "Most companies looking to go public are looking at multiple sources of capital."
Many Minnesotans were among the victims, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
