Virgin Trains USA Inc, which shuttles passengers between Miami and West Palm Beach, will issue more than 28.3 million shares between $17 and $19 on the tech-laden Nasdaq.
It is seeking as much as $538 million in an initial public offering set to price late Tuesday. The loss-making Florida railroad is asking investors to value it at $3.15 billion in what’s set to be 2019’s biggest IPO so far.
Formerly called Brightline, the latest addition to Richard Branson’s Virgin Group plans to expand its high-speed luxury passenger service to flights connecting Texas and Orlando, home of Disney World.
IPO Roundup: PagerDuty files confidentially for IPO, while New Fortress dials down IPO terms
The company said in its filing that it’s also planning to begin service connecting Southern California to Las Vegas. Those expansions could help “increase annual ridership 37-fold to 20.8 million passengers within five years,” the company said in its IPO filing.
As Virgin prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of Sir Richard Branson's founding the company as a mail-order records business in 1970, the executive who now runs the company is laying out ambitious plans to push into a US market where the brand has been far less well-known and lucrative than in the UK.
The large IPO will test a market for new listings that’s already been plagued by the month-long government shutdown that stalled correspondence with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There's still risk ahead in the form of market volatility, macroeconomic uncertainty and the threat of yet another possible shutdown.
The five US IPOs that priced in January raised a combined $353 million, the worst month since January 2016, reported Bloomberg.
Peloton Interactive Inc is interviewing banks this week for roles on an initial public offering, taking a critical step toward a market debut this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Underwriters are expected to be selected within weeks.
READ: Slack Technologies is preparing for an IPO, says WSJ
Peloton’s stationary bikes sell for between $2,245 to nearly $2,700 when packaged with various accessories. Many of Peloton’s customers use the bikes at home, paying about $39 a month to stream live classes that the company produces with its own instructors.
Peloton is among a slew of companies that could make 2019 a banner year for IPOs, although the process for some companies has been delayed because of the partial government shutdown.
Meanwhile, Slack a provider of chat and direct-messaging services for businesses, confidentially filed to go public last week.
The company didn't disclose any details about how it plans to sell its shares to the public, prompting media reports that it will be using a direct listing instead of an IPO, much the way Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) debuted last year.
Contact Uttara Choudhury at uttara@proactiveinvestors.com
Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive