Nielsen was taken private in 2006 in a deal worth just over $10 billion by private equity firms Carlyle Group, Blackstone Group LP, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, Thomas H. While the Nielsen deal’s positive reception looked like good news for financial sponsors eager to unload stakes in some of their long-held portfolio companies, the share sale was not a home run for the private equity firms that still own the company. The board of hospital operator HCA, another private equity-backed flotation, was meeting on Wednesday to consider taking the company public in March, a source familiar with the situation said. “The markets are ready to accept IPOs, and the fear factors have been mitigated to some extent,” said David Menlow, president of, an independent research firm.Ĭompanies appear to be taking note of rising investor demand.Īlly Financial is due to hold a meeting on Thursday to talk to bankers hoping to underwrite its IPO, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. And the Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it would continue buying bonds to increase the money supply. Bond yields have been low for years, giving portfolio managers an incentive to take more risk to generate higher returns. Investors may not be diving into riskier IPOs, but they do seem to be tip-toeing into them. “The broader markets have done better, and investors are looking for places to put cash to work.” “The IPO market has continued to improve because the economy is growing,” said Nick Einhorn, a research analyst at Connecticut-based IPO research and investment firm Renaissance Capital.
Private equity firms are looking to sell several large companies this year, including retailer Toys R Us and pipeline company Kinder Morgan.ĭemand Media, an online company that relies on freelance writers to churn out articles and video designed to appear at the top of Internet searches, raised $151.3 million, more than a third above its target. Nielsen raised $1.6 billion on Tuesday, nearly a tenth more than expected. Nielsen’s IPO, the biggest of the two, is the first of what is expected to be a rush of big private equity-backed IPOs in 2011. Nielsen’s shares rose 8.7 percent from its initial public offering price, and Demand Media’s shares rose 33.2 percent. NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nielsen Holdings, which measures television ratings, and Demand Media, which publishes articles online, rallied on Wednesday in their trading debuts, signaling that demand for media-related IPOs was building.
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