WaterBridge, backed by Five Point, is valued at almost $3 billion and shares soar in NYSE debut
WaterBridge Infrastructure shares rose 25% on their New York Stock Exchange debut on Wednesday. This gives the midstream water management company a market value of almost $3 billion.
Shares in the Houston-based firm, backed by the private equity firm Five Point Capital, opened at $20 each, as opposed to the initial offer of $25.
WaterBridge raised $634 million through a larger initial public offering. WaterBridge had previously marketed 27,000,000 shares at $17-$20 each.
Investors looked beyond tariff uncertainty to make a comeback in the U.S. this fall. New listings have been boosted by record high equity markets, and expectations of rate cuts.
WaterBridge offers oil and gas producers supply, recycling, and disposal services across the key U.S. shales basins.
Jeff Whittle is the head of Womble Bond Dickinson’s global energy industry sector.
The number of energy IPOs has slowed since the beginning of the year.
Venture Global, Flowco, and Infinity Natural Resources all traded below their initial offer price earlier this year.
Whittle stated that companies may wait until the price of crude oil increases to increase their valuations before attempting to go public.
WaterBridge has been eyeing a New York listing since 2018, when it first filed confidentially. WaterBridge has grown through acquisitions, and sold a small stake to Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC.
This listing represents a major victory for David Capobianco’s Five Point. Five Point formed WaterBridge back in 2016.
LandBridge is another Five Point-backed firm that has tripled in size since its debut.
WaterBridge and LandBridge partner to utilize underutilized pore spaces in the Delaware Basin, to meet increasing water-handling demands. (Reporting and editing by Shilpi Mahumdar and Shreya Biwas in Bengaluru, and Ankita Bora in Bengaluru)
(source: Reuters)
