Visma's listing in London and Bullish's success in New York: highlights of the IPO by August 17

Enterprise software developer Visma has begun preparations for an IPO that could be one of the largest in London in recent years. Shares of Bullish, a U.S. crypto exchange that competes with Binance and Coinbase, nearly doubled in debut trading. And in Hong Kong, retail investors helped Chinese rival Novo Nordisk triple its capitalization on the first day of trading. The main events on the IPO market during the week are in our selection.

- Norwegian software developer Visma, owned by investment fund Hg, has chosen banks to organize an IPO in 2026, Bloomberg reported citing sources. Thus, Hg is preparing to monetize one of its most successful investments. The offering will be organized by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS. Visma plans to list in London. The company was valued at $22.2 billion at the end of 2023: its IPO could be the largest in the UK capital in recent years. Visma develops software for small and medium-sized businesses and serves 2.1 million customers. The company, which was founded in 1996, previously traded on the Oslo stock exchange until it was bought out for 382 million pounds in 2006.

- Payment company PayPay, owned by Japan's SoftBank, has applied for a listing in the U.S., which could result in a valuation of more than $10 billion. The exact timing, size and price of the offering have not yet been determined. According to a Financial Times source, the IPO could take place before the end of 2025. SoftBank owns about 34% of the company through its Vision Fund 2 investment fund and intends to retain control of PayPay after the offering. The bank may sell about 20% of the shares and then possibly continue to reduce its stake. A secondary listing in Japan has not been ruled out in the future, the FT source added. SoftBank may use the proceeds from the PayPay offering to invest in its Stargate data center project and build up its stake in OpenAI, MST Financial analyst David Gibson suggested.

- American Motive Technologies, which creates software and hardware complexes for fleet management, may go public in New York in late 2025, a source told Bloomberg. According to him, the startup has attracted a consortium of banks led by JPMorgan Chase to prepare for the listing. Motive Technologies generates about $500 million in revenue per year from more than 100,000 customers and has been cash flow positive since the fourth quarter of 2024. In 2022, Motive was valued at $2.85 billion.

- Investment firm Bain Capital is considering an IPO of retailer Bob's Discount Furniture in late 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. The furniture chain generated about $2 billion in revenue and about $200 million in EBITDA in 2024, according to analysts at D.A. Davidson. If the company is valued at a multiple of about five EBITDA, which is typical for the furniture industry, it could be capitalized at about $1 billion, the WSJ calculated. Growth in Bob's e-commerce business has accelerated markedly in recent years, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, when consumers were actively shopping online for home improvement products.

- Shares of US crypto exchange Bullish, a competitor of Binance and Coinbase, soared 84% on the day of its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Bullish placed securities on the IPO at $37 per paper, and at the close of the first day of trading they were already worth $68. Due to high demand, the company increased the number of shares offered and raised the price range in preparation for the listing. According to Bloomberg sources, the volume of applications from investors exceeded the offer more than 20 times.

- Shares of Miami International, the holding company of US exchange operator MIAX, jumped 34% on the first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The trades closed at $30.74 at the offering price of $23 per paper. That brought the company's market capitalization to $2.4 billion, Bloomberg calculated. Miami International is the first major financial exchange to IPO in the U.S. in 15 years. It placed 15 million shares at a price above its stated range ($19-21) and raised $345 million. Exchanges are performing strongly this year as increased market volatility has led to record trading volumes and profit growth, Reuters noted.

- Chinese developer of diabetes and obesity drugs Guangzhou Innogen Pharmaceutical tripled its capitalization on the first day of trading after listing in Hong Kong. Its debut was the best among all companies that went public on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2025, Bloomberg reports. The company raised $87 million in its IPO. Innogen's main product, efsubaglutide alfa, is in the same class of GLP-1 drugs as Novo Nordisk's popular weight-loss products. So far, Innogen is only approved in China for the treatment of diabetes, but is in the final stages of clinical trials for weight loss.

- Quotes of the Chinese developer of vaccines against influenza and rabies Ab&B Bio-Tech rose by almost 170% on its debut day on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company's IPO, which raised $55 million, saw Ab&B Bio-Tech float 33.44 million shares at the lower end of its previously announced range. Strong demand from Hong Kong retail investors resulted in 651,600 shares intended for institutional investors being reallocated to ordinary individuals, Reuters reports. According to a stock exchange filing, the retail portion of the offering was oversubscribed by nearly 4,000 times.

- Kyivstar was the first Ukrainian company to go public in New York. Shares of Ukraine's largest mobile operator started trading on Nasdaq on August 15 under the ticker KYIV. Kyivstar preferred the traditional IPO to listing through a merger with SPAC-company. The parent group VEON positions the placement of Kyivstar shares on the US stock market as an opportunity for foreign investors to bet on Ukraine's recovery.

- Shares of companies IPO'd in the U.S. by investment funds are performing poorly, while investors are refocusing on riskier market segments such as cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence, Bloomberg found out. "Typically, companies that are majority owned by funds are more aggressively focused on getting the highest price for their IPOs rather than leaving money on the table for investors," Joe Ritter, a professor at the University of Florida's Warrington School of Business, told the agency. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, the median share price of companies with private equity funds was 16% below the offering price, while a similar sample of IPOs of companies without investment fund backing showed a 19% increase.

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