Ropes & Gray Shares Ten Key Insights from its New York IPO Accelerator Summit

Ropes & Gray welcomed legal and finance professionals on Thursday, May 2, to New York’s Whitby Hotel for its IPO Accelerator Summit. The event gathered leaders of and advisers to successful public companies to share their strategies on navigating the legal, financial, logistical and regulatory hurdles to achieve a successful IPO and setting a foundation for public company success. PwC and Workiva were event co-sponsors.

Panelists included executives and professionals from Installed Building Products, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Baron Capital, the New York Stock Exchange, OLAPLEX, Shake Shack and Solebury Capital. They guided attendees on navigating the IPO process, planning and executing an IPO, and utilizing the IPO to build a successful public company. Ropes & Gray partners Julie Jones, Christopher Capuzzi, Craig Marcus and Rachel Phillips led the conversations leveraging their experience advising clients on numerous successful IPOs.

Key takeaways from the summit included:

1. Utilize technology to improve processes and foster collaboration among the IPO working group.
2. Seek guidance and support from your accounting and legal advisors on public company accounting issues such as SEC financial statement requirements, auditor independence and SOX compliance so as not to lose time or waste critical resources.
3. Develop a corporate governance structure that aligns with the realities of your stockholder base and applicable SEC and exchange requirements and prepare for it to evolve over time following the IPO.
4. Engagement with investors should take place early, sometimes years before an IPO process starts, and always in accordance with the SEC’s strict communications and gun-jumping rules.
5. Fostering and maintaining credibility with investors is critical to both building a strong IPO order book and support for the stock in follow-on transactions and the market, in general.
6. Explore the value-added services that exchanges can provide, such as opportunities for publicity and investor engagement and insights into stock trading and performance.
7. Understand the appropriate mix of investors for your IPO to encourage long-term stockholder support and also allow for sufficient liquidity and trading in the after market.
8. Attracting the right research analysts and working with your advisors to put your best foot forward with them can lay the groundwork for long-term success as a public company.
9. Following your IPO, expect senior executives to spend significant time engaging with investors and consider how to make those interactions most meaningful to both the company and investors.
10. Assemble a knowledgeable and experienced team of advisors early in the process to accelerate your path to a successful IPO.

For companies and investors evaluating an IPO opportunity within the next 12-24 months, it’s important to assess readiness and start preparations for the IPO process and becoming a public company. Please reach out to any member of Ropes & Gray’s capital markets team for more information on IPO readiness and relevant considerations for your company’s business and objectives.

More information on the event can be found here.