admin Beyond Meat sold 9.63 million shares for $25 each, after marketing them for $23 to $25
Beyond Meat Inc. more than doubled in its trading debut after uplifting $241 million in an upsized initial public offering that priced at the top of the marketed range.
Shares of the maker of vegan beef and sausage substitutes opened at $46. They increased 142 percent from the offer price to $60.48 at 1:16 p.m. in New York, giving the company a market value of more than $3.5 billion.
Beyond Meat sold 9.63 million shares for $25 each on Wednesday, after marketing them for $23 to $25, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The company, backed by business and Hollywood celebrities including Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and actor Leonardo DiCaprio, originally planned for a smaller share sale to raise only $184 million at the top of a $19 to $21 share price range.
Chief Executive Officer Ethan Brown doesn’t expect a conflict between making environmentally based decisions and those that serve shareholders.
“Consumers are looking for products that enable them to be healthier and reduce their footprint,” he told in an interview. “Every time we’re making a sale we’re furthering our mission and increasing sales.”
One food-industry consultant informed investors are taking a lot on faith with money-losing Beyond Meat.
The company’s valuation in its IPO is “entirely reasonable if it’s got internationalizable potential and a great product, and has capacity to make money in its core profit structure,” said Robert Lawson, chief executive officer of London-based Food Strategy Associates. “But it’s not clear that Beyond Meat is that.”
The company will need to expand its product range to succeed outside the U.S., where burgers aren’t as popular, Lawson further added.
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