Bending Spoons' IPO jumps nearly 40% as shares open at $40.50
The Milan-based firm Bending Spoons debuted on the market with a $1.68 billion offering, closing its first day at $40.50 per share, about 40% above the IPO price.
Bending Spoons, a 13-year-old technology group that acquires and restructures legacy internet brands, saw its shares close at $40.50 on Wednesday, roughly 40% higher than the $29 price set for its initial public offering. The offering raised $1.68 billion and gave the company a market value of about $25.7 billion, more than double its last private valuation of $11 billion.
The firm has built its portfolio by purchasing well-known but stagnant services such as AOL, Eventbrite, Evernote, Meetup and Vimeo, then improving profitability through cost reductions, new feature launches and price adjustments. Unlike typical private-equity investors, Bending Spoons says it does not intend to sell these businesses.
According to its SEC filing, the company generated $601 million in revenue for the first quarter, earning $27.4 million in net income. This contrasts with a net loss of $112 million on $259 million of revenue for the same period a year earlier. Subscriptions made up 84% of total revenue last year.
Prior to the IPO, the largest external shareholder was Baillie Gifford, with additional stakes held by Renaissance Partners, Cox Enterprises, Durable Capital Partners, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price. The flotation also provided a substantial payout to the five co-founders—Luca Ferrari, Francesco Patarnello, Matteo Danieli, Luca Querella and Tomasz Greber.
