From a Canadian point of view, the IPO landscape has been rather lacklustre of late. However, from a new tech stock on the TSX to the biggest IPO in the world, there are a few new listings that investors should be taking note of right now.
This new tech stock broke an IPO drought
Tech stock Docebo is proving popular with investors, up 9.8% in the last five days. The SaaS (system as a service) e-learning platform is one of the most exciting AI-powered businesses on the TSX at the moment and offers investors a geographically diversified play with an international footprint that includes Canada, Europe, the U.K., the U.S., and Dubai.
Not only did Docebo’s listing break a record dry spell for Canadian IPOs, it also added a tech stock for the TSX to rally around. Beyond popular stocks such as Open Text and Descartes, the tech sector is underrepresented on the TSX, especially when compared with exchanges such as the NASDAQ.
Docebo’s debut is a welcome one and could prove popular with capital gains investors over the long-term.
GFL Environmental pulls out – but could be back
GFL Environmental was getting ready to hit the TSX. For investors who haven’t heard, the waste management company was looking at a $2.42 billion IPO. Shares were penciled in to sell in the $20 to $24 range, with the latter price bumping the company’s valuation up to $7.56 billion. The company would likely have used funds from its IPO to expand its operations.
The company, whose lime green vehicles emblazoned with the Green for Life motto are instantly recognizable across Canada, would have listed on the NYSE and TSX with the ticker “GFL.” However, the listing won’t go ahead at this time.
GFL chief executive Patrick Dovigi commented that “the shareholders have decided to inject more equity into the business to fund the future growth of the company and revisit the public markets at a later date.” The IPO would have been significant, as the largest seen in Canada in 15 years.
The biggest IPO in the world?
Meanwhile, any investor interested in IPOs, either domestic or foreign, will no doubt have heard that the world’s most profitable company is due to go public. Aramco, the trillion dollar oil company, could potentially be the biggest IPO in the world. While the stock will trade on the Saudi exchange, Tadawul, plans to list on foreign stock exchanges are not yet forthcoming.
Considering that Aramco accounts for roughly 10% of the world’s oil, its IPO is big news. Having spent three years in the pipeline, the public listing of a company more profitable than some of the biggest corporations on the NASDAQ combined could bring in billions of dollars with the sale of just 1%–2% of its shares, with a valuation in the $2 trillion range.
The bottom line
GFL Environmental would have been the biggest deal in Canadian IPOs for some time and is likely to be instantly popular with investors should it eventually go public. In the meantime, tech stock fans have a solid play with Docebo for exposure to Canadian AI.
