Banner year for public offerings also gave Minnesota companies a lift

In 2018, the market for U.S. initial public stock offerings improved substantially with 191 completed IPOs, a 19% increase over 2017 and the highest number of IPOs in four years.

Minnesota benefited from that increase with three traditional offerings.

But despite high-profile public offerings this year from companies such as Beyond Meat, Lyft, Levi Strauss and Pinterest, the pace of completed public offerings in 2019 is down 34% compared with the same period last year, according to Renaissance Capital, a provider of pre-IPO institutional research.

None of the 42 IPOs through early May of this year was from a Minnesota company and 21 companies have withdrawn their IPOs in 2019 compared to 10 through the first half of 2018 and 25 in all of 2018.

The $8.1 billion initial public offering from ride-hailing firm Uber on May 10 might kick-start more IPOs in the second half of the year, but no Minnesota companies look to be actively pursuing a major public offering.

Minnesota did see the biggest IPO in the state's history last year with Ceridian HCM Holdings. The Bloomington-based company sold 24.15 million shares at $22 per share.

A concurrent private offering from private-equity owners raised another $100 million, and an overallotment raised total proceeds to $630 million.

Two other Minnesota companies completed IPOs in 2018 but neither was large enough to crack the top 50.

Inspire Medical raised $124.2 million in a May offering; it ranks 59th with annual revenue of $50.6 million. The maker of minimally invasive solutions to treat sleep apnea received positive news when three state Blue Cross Blue Shield plans announced they would cover the company's Inspire therapy procedure, bringing to 11.2 million the people who could be covered for the treatment.

Inspire priced its shares in the IPO at $16, and they are currently trading around $52.50 per share.

Bridgewater Bancshares completed its IPO in March 2018 and raised $58.4 million; annual revenue of $67.3 million puts it at 54th on the Minnesota public company list. The Bloomington-based financial holding company is the parent of Bridgewater Bank and Bridgewater Risk Management Inc., a captive insurance entity.