Playtika Holding , the biggest IPO so far in 2021, went public Friday after pricing its offering above the level it had told investors to expect. Driven Brands also listed as well.
Shares of Playtika (ticker: PLTK) opened at $33.40 and hit a high of $36.06. The stock closed Friday at $31.62, up 17.1%.
The solid showing came after Playtika, an Israeli mobile-game developer, raised $1.88 billion. This exceeded the $1.3 billion raised by the payments company Affirm Holdings , according to Dealogic data. Playtika sold 69.5 million shares at $27 each, well above its $22 to $24 price range.
“Playtika is a 10-year-old company and there is no better way to celebrate a leading mobile games company than to celebrate with an IPO,” said Craig Abrahams, president and chief financial officer.
Playtika owns nine of the top 100 highest-grossing mobile games in the U.S. This includes Slotomania and Bingo Blitz, which generated more than half of Playtika’s revenue in 2018 and 2019, according to the prospectus for the deal. The company also owns World Series of Poker, Poker Face, Caesars Slots, and Epic Jackpot.
The IPO also gives Playtika a public currency that it can use to accelerate its growth, including buying more companies, Abrahams said. Playtika has done seven acquisitions in the last eight years, he said. It will use proceeds from the IPO for general corporate purposes, including refinancing its debt, which stood at $2.2 billion as of Sept. 30.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/playtika-2021s-biggest-ipo-so-far-is-set-to-trade-51610732943
