By Michael Loney
Homeowners managing general underwriter Bamboo Insurance Services has postponed its initial public offering, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Bamboo was expected to go public this week, in an offering consisting of secondary shares to be sold by entities affiliated with CVC Capital Partners and White Mountains Insurance Group.
John Chu-led Bamboo had on September 14 set a target price range of $18 to $20 for an offering of 35 million shares, which would have raised up to $700 million with a valuation of more than $3 billion.
The Midvale, Utah-based company had applied to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol BMB.
Bloomberg reported that Bamboo cited market conditions for postponing the IPO, according to people familiar with the matter, who added the listing could be revived in the future.
Bloomberg noted that Holtec Nuclear Corp also postponed an IPO in recent days because of market conditions.
In the insurance industry, Florida carrier Safepoint withdrew a planned IPO in June.
In contrast, Orion180 Insurance Group started trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on Friday after raising $240 million in an IPO.
However, the IPO priced at $12 a share — below its $15 to $17 targeted range. The share price closed at $11.77 on its first day of trading on Friday and was trading at $10.68 as of 1:50 p.m. in New York on Tuesday.
In an interview with The Insurer published on Monday, Orion180 president and CEO Ken Gregg said he is looking long term and is less focused on short-term volatility.
“We're worried about the next 12 months, 36 months, five years, 10 years and making sure that our agent partners and our insureds that entrust us with protecting them and bringing a solution to them can count on us being here and providing solutions in every market cycle,” he said.
“That's what I focus on … I'm not worried about the daily fluctuations. I can’t control that.”
Insurance industry companies have faced a mixed environment for going public in the past two years.
Orion180 was the first P&C insurance company to go public in the US so far this year after seven P&C insurance-related companies completed IPOs last year.
American Integrity, Ategrity, Slide and Neptune are all trading comfortably above their offering prices, while technology-focused Exzeo is significantly down.
In contrast, Aspen has already been acquired by Sompo and delisted, and Accelerant in August agreed to a more than $4 billion take-private deal via Thoma Bravo.
In addition, The Baldwin Group, which went public in 2019, last week announced it will go private in a $7.7 billion deal led by Sequence Holdings and DFO Management.