Bright Health Group Inc. went public Thursday, raising $924.3 million, in the largest ever initial public offering by a Minnesota-based company.
The health insurance startup sold more than 51 million shares priced at $18 per share — below the expected price range of $20 to $23 a share. But the public offering still easily tops Minnesota's previous big-dollar IPOs from Jamf (which raised $468 million in 2020) and Ceridian (which raised $462 million in an IPO in 2018 and almost $170 million more in over-allotment sales and a concurrent private placement)
Shares, trading under the symbol BHG on the New York Stock Exchange, were down about 7%, at $16.70 near closing.
The lead managers for the offering are J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., Morgan Stanley and Barclays.
Based on Bright's 624 million outstanding shares, the company is valued at more than $11 billion. In that S-1, the Minneapolis-based insurance startup planned to raise more than $1.5 billion by selling over 60 million shares, which would have given it a valuation of more than $14 billion.
Underwriters have up to 30 days to decide if they want to purchase an additional 6.1 million shares, which would raise Bright more than $110.7 million.
Bright will use the money to pay off debts worth about $200 million. The rest of the cash will then be used in investments to grow the business.
The company had revenues of over $1.2 billion in 2020, over four times as much as in 2019. In the first quarter of calendar year 2021, Bright posted revenue of $874.6 million.
Bright's IPO follows Sun Country Airlines, which raised more than $218 million in March; and Bloomington-based chip manufacturer SkyWater Technology Inc., which had a $112 million IPO in April. Miromatrix also went public this week, raising $43.2 million.
