US IPO Market Shows Signs of Life After Restaurant Chain Cava’s Winning Debut

The US market for initial public offerings looks like it’s finally coming back to life after 18 months of deathly quiet.

Shares of Cava Group Inc. nearly doubled in its trading debut on June 15 after the fast-casual restaurant chain’s breakthrough IPO was priced well above the initial range set by underwriters. While the stock price has slipped a bit from its early surge, it still remains up about 84%.

Now, a trio of companies are preparing to follow Cava’s lead and tap the public markets this week. All told, about $1.5 billion is expected to be raised in IPOs on US exchanges in June, marking the first consecutive months with more than $1 billion sold since last fall, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“Everyone was watching Cava very closely, so that’s going to be a good starting point for the opening up of the IPO market for new companies,” said Greg Martin, co-founder of Rainmaker Securities, which facilitates secondary transactions for private companies. “There are a lot of great companies that are private that have filed. The bar will still be high, but there’s clearly a lot of pent-up demand.”…Read Full Article