An acquisitive, multi-boutique asset manager in Ohio just IPOed on what turned out be another rough day in the markets, and its shares took a hit.

David C. Brown Victory Capital Chairman and CEO

Shares of Cleveland-based Victory Capital Holdings [profile] debuted yesterday on the Nasdaq under the ticker VCTR, and Victory chairman and CEO David Brown and his team went to the Nasdaq in New York to ring the opening bell. The IPO was priced at $13 per share for 11.7 million shares, below the $17 to $19 range estimated earlier this week in an SEC filing.

Victory's shares fell 10.77 percent yesterday (to $11.6). Yet the broader market fell, too, though not as much; the Dow fell 4.15 percent, the S&P 500 fell 3.75 percent, and the Nasdaq fell 3.9 percent. As for publicly traded asset managers, most saw their stocks slip between three and six percent yesterday.

Victory had $61.8 billion in AUM as of December 31, 2017, and Renaissance Capital estimates that Victory raised $152 million from the IPO, up from the $100 million Victory estimated a month ago in its S-1. In the S-1, Victory also revealed that private equity firm Crestview Partners would continue to control a majority of the voting rights post-IPO. As of September 30, 2017, 70 percent of Victory's employees owned a combined 29 percent of the company.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley were the lead underwriters for the IPO. Other underwrites involved included: Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Keefe Bruyette & Woods (part of Stifel), RBC, Sandler O'Neill, and William Blair. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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