Cold storage REIT Lineage rises 5% in the biggest IPO of 2024

By Pritam Biswas and Echo Wang

(Reuters) -Cold storage real estate investment trust Lineage's shares gained 5% in their Nasdaq debut on Thursday, signaling investor enthusiasm for the year's biggest public offering so far.

Investors have showed renewed interest for fresh listings in 2024 on hopes of a soft landing for the economy, after the U.S. IPO market remained subdued for over two years due to geopolitical tensions and high borrowing rates.

Companies like cancer drug developer CG Oncology received a warm response from investors on debut, and its shares traded nearly 75% above their IPO price as of Wednesday's close.

Lineage, backed by private equity firm Bay Grove Capital, debuted at $82 per share, above the offer price of $78 apiece, giving the company a valuation of $19.2 billion.

Reuters exclusively reported that Michigan-based Lineage sold nearly 57 million shares on Wednesday to raise $4.44 billion, making it the biggest stock market debut globally in 2024.

In a year that has seen an uneven approach by investors towards fresh offerings, Lineage could act as a bellwether for the wider IPO market.

"Lineage could give other companies the courage to list later this year or early 2025," said Daniel Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ Bell.

"We might look back in a few years and realize that Lineage's IPO was perfectly timed, floating just at the point when investors were starting to reappraise property-related stocks," Coatsworth added.

Lineage works with food and beverage companies for the storage, handling and movement of frozen and perishable food around the world. On a global scale Lineage has 482 warehouses spanning 3 billion cubic feet of capacity.

Private equity executives Adam Forste and Kevin Marchetti launched the business as one warehouse in Seattle in 2008. They generated $5.3 billion in revenue in 2023.

"We did over 115 acquisitions around the world and have established ourselves as a choir of choice in our industry, in what's still a very fragmented segment," said Lineage CEO Greg Lehmkuhl.

"We think that having a public currency, a liquid currency and the lowest cost of capital… will just accelerate our inorganic growth and provide us the balance sheet we need to continue to fund the company's growth," Lehmkuhl added.

The proceeds from the IPO would go towards paying down debt, according to the company's regulatory filing.

REITs typically provide a better hedge against inflation and market volatility during times of economic turmoil. They allow shareholders to deduct some of the taxes they pay on their dividends.

Morgan Stanley , Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co acted as the joint bookrunning managers for the IPO. KKR served as its lead financial adviser.

(Reporting by Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Shailesh Kuber)