Minneapolis-based IT company raises $468M from its IPO, a record for Minnesota

JAMF Holding Corp. has raised $468 million after it increased the size and price of its initial public stock offering, making it the largest IPO in Minnesota.

The Minneapolis-based company helps businesses, schools, hospitals and government agencies connect and manage Apple devices in a cloud platform.

In a filing this week, the company said it would offer 16 million shares in a range between $21 and $23 per share. Instead, the company and its underwriters were able to increase the offering to 18 million shares at $26 per share.

After a customary delay to the start of trading, JAMF's shares rose sharply Wednesday from the $26 per share offering price to $46.20 per share in late-morning trading, then closed the day at $39.20. That gives the company a market cap of more than $5 billion.

When reports came out in January that the company had filed a confidential registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission market, watchers estimated an IPO would value the company at $3 billion.

JAMF Chief Executive Dean Hager said the company has been exploring the prospects of an IPO since at least 2017. The deal was scheduled to price this spring but was put on hold until equity and stock markets stabilized.

"Frankly, we didn't know if we would be able to get it out this year," Hager said. "It's been a journey and a lot of hard work by the entire team."

The offering was completed under coronavirus restrictions, and the entire pre-offering roadshow was done virtually — befitting a company that facilitates remote work solutions for companies, schools and health care systems.

Hager and Chief Financial Officer Jill Putman conducted around 50 meetings over six days, sometimes including many consecutive calls. "It was very, very effective, Hager said.

"And what I was most pleased with was that the investors that had the greatest deal of excitement were those investors who had spoken to JAMF customers," Hager said. "That's really where they got the story and understood what we did."

The last IPO record in Minnesota had been set in April 2018 by Ceridian HCM Holdings, which raised $462 million. The Bloomington-based company also ran a concurrent private placement and an overallotment that increased total proceeds to Ceridian to $630 million.

The equity markets are regaining strength after the coronavirus pandemic nearly shut them down in April and May. According to Renaissance Capital, which tracks IPOs and offers IPO investment products, 79 IPOs have priced in 2020, down 11.2% from the same time last year. But there was a resurgence in June, and the second quarter finished with 39 offerings that raised $15 billion.

"During the quarter, nearly every IPO upsized or priced above the midpoint, and IPOs averaged a 38% first-day pop, and a 61% return from offer and nearly every offering pricing above the midpoint of its offering range," Renaissance noted in its second-quarter report.

JAMF had annual revenue of $204 million in 2019, up 39% from the previous year. It reported a net loss of $32.6 million in 2019 and $36.3 million in 2018.

Founded in 2002, JAMF has more than 1,300 employees and 40,000 customers, and its community support network, JAMF Nation, boasts more than 100,000 members.

JAMF is expected to receive $319.7 million in net proceeds from the offering. The company said in its offering papers it would use proceeds to pay down long-term debt, including to private-equity shareholders Vista Equity Partners and for general corporate purposes. Hager said the balance will go to strengthen its balance sheet and to invest in solutions that will benefit its customers.

"The reason we wanted to go public all along was we wanted to be able to commit to our customers for the long term that were here to innovate for them, and there was no better way to do that than to go public," Hager said.

Patrick Kennedy • 612-673-7926