Bats Global Exchange Sets Terms for IPO

A non-Healthcare IPO has set terms in 2016, finally.

Bats Global Exchange came out with a SEC filing early Monday morning stating they were looking to price 11.2 million shares at a price range of $17-$19. It would be a cash raise of $212.8 million if priced at the high end of the range. This would value the company near $1.8 billion.

The expected debut date is April 15.

Bats Global Exchange is a leading global operator of securities exchanges and other electronic markets enabled by world-class technology.  This IPO has filed to be listed under its own exchange under the symbol: “BATS”.

The story of Bats Global Exchange is not as straight forward as most other companies who have come to market.  Bats failed its first attempt at coming to market back in 2012. A software glitch forced the company to pull its offering.

Bats Global, which is a company that is known to cater to high-frequency trading (HFT), brought in a top-executive from Virtu Financial (Nasdaq: VIRT) to help give the company the proper wings to go public. Having ties to the HFT sector, there is increased regulatory risk assumed by Bats Global.

According to the filing, Bats itself will not sell shares but this is a spot where existing shareholders can cash out the 11.2 million shares listed. A handful of banks and private equity firms are current shareholders including TA Associates, Spectrum Equity Funds and broker KCG Holdings. KCG Holdings currently holds a 16.4% stake.

Prior to this filing, Bats Global acquired ETF.Com which is a leading provider of ETC-focused news and data which could provide a glimpse into the potential future of this company.

Bats has strong names underwriting the deal including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, BofA Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan as the underwriters. Co-managers are listed as Jefferies, Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities, Nomura, Rosenblatt Securities, Sandler O’Neill + Partners, L.P.