Madison Air IPO: trading has begun after the industry's largest listing in 27 years

Preliminary trading of Madison Air Solutions shares has begun on the Freedom customer trading system. The company, which supplies ventilation systems to data centers among others, held the largest initial public offering this year. Later on April 16, its securities will appear on the NYSE exchange under the ticker MAIR. To participate, click on the ticker MAIR.

Madison Air has raised $2.23 bln as a result of IPO. Investors sold 82.7 million shares at $27 per paper - this corresponds to the upper limit of the previously announced range ($25-27). Based on the results of the IPO, the value of the entire company can be estimated at $13.2 billion, Bloomberg noted.

The deal was the largest public offering by an industrial company since 1999, when logistics giant United Parcel Service raised $5.5 billion from investors, Seeking Alpha notes. The Madison Air offering was organized by Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, Citigroup, RBC Capital Markets, Barclays, Wells Fargo, Santander, Guggenheim Securities, CIBC Capital, BofA, Baird, Wolfe and Nomura.

Madison Air was formed through a series of acquisitions of its parent Madison Industries that began in 2017. The Chicago-based company owns the Nortek Air Solutions and Nortek Data Center Cooling brands, which offer air quality and thermal management products for commercial, industrial and data center applications. The residential portfolio includes ventilation equipment and cleaning systems under the AprilAire, Broan-NuTone and Zephyr brands.

Madison Air is benefiting from a surge in demand for data centers in need of advanced cooling equipment, notes Reuters.

In an IPO registration statement form (Form S-1) filed with U.S. regulators in March, Madison Air said its net revenue for 2025 rose to $3.34 billion, up from $2.62 billion a year earlier. Madison Air's 10 largest customers accounted for about 32% of its revenue last year. Meanwhile, the commercial segment as a whole accounted for nearly 66% of the company's net sales by end market, Seeking Alpha writes. By country, the U.S. accounted for the majority of sales (87%).

The company says a significant portion of its revenue comes from its existing customer base. About half of sales in 2025 were driven by equipment replacement and modernization, and about 10% by continued service and spare parts supply, which provides stable revenue.

At the end of 2025, Madison Air had $208 million in cash and cash equivalents and $7.2 billion in liabilities, of which $5.6 billion was long-term debt. The company intends to use the proceeds from the IPO to repay its debt, among other things.

Companies in the HVAC industry are setting themselves apart from the competition by offering AI-based control systems, predictive maintenance, refrigerants with low global warming potential and regulated ventilation to promote environmental sustainability, notes Seeking Alpha analyst Donovan Jones. Madison Air's strategy, he says, relies on AI-based product innovation, data center cooling and aftermarket services.

Among Madison Air's strengths, Jones cites Madison Air's portfolio of recognizable brands, presence across market segments, sustainable data center development as a major revenue stream, and a decentralized operating model.

Significant debt and servicing costs, the rapid pace of acquisitions, and the concentration of revenue in the U.S. are among the company's weaknesses, Jones cites.

The analyst attributes Madison Air's development potential to growth in the segments of data centers, localization of semiconductor production in the U.S., research centers, and residential buildings. Among the risks are high competition, supply chain risks, and possible reduction in data center construction.

The main risks for Madison Air business are competition, changes in the general economic situation (decline in activity in the field of repair, reconstruction and modernization of housing in North America), says analyst of Freedom Finance Alem Bektemirov. Based on the average ratio of the fair value of companies in the industry to their annual revenue (EV/S multiple) and Madison Air's performance, the analyst calls Madison Air's fair market value $18.73 billion.With $5.6 billion of debt on the balance sheet and $208.4 million in cash, the company's equity is $13.32 billion, or $27.25 per share, Bektemirov said - so the potential for the company's average offering price of $26 is 4.8%, he said.

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Freedom clients will be able to get access to Madison Air shares before the opening of the main exchange session. Trading will begin in the early pre-market format 2-3 hours before the U.S. exchanges open (from 15:30-16:30 Astana time). To participate, click on MAIR ticker.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor