At a time when the flagging stock market has put at least two mutual fund firm IPOs on ice (Artisan Partners and Manning & Napier) and knocked back plans for another pair (the asset management arms of Old Mutual and ING) the top brass at WisdomTree Investments [see profile] still sees demand.
The New York City-based ETF specialist could soon raise six million dollars (more or less) of new capital. Today the New York-based exchange-traded mutual fund firm revealed that it filed an S-1 form with the SEC to sell up to one million new shares.
Today WisdomTree's stock (WETF on the Nasdaq) is trading at over $6.30 per share, placing the proposed offering's value at up to $6.3 million. Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are handling the offering.
WisdomTree's market cap is about $730 million. They manage about $11.5 billion in ETFs, meaning that Mr. Market is valuing the business at 6.3 percent of AUM.
That is not the only measure by which the stock is richly priced. In the second quarter WisdomTree earned $689,000. Thus, at last quarter's run rate, its forward price-to-earnings ratio is almost 265.
At such a high forward P/E, the surprise is not that they're selling shares, but that they're selling so few (less than one percent of their market cap).
Company Press Release
NEW YORK, Oct 17, 2011 -- WisdomTree Investments, Inc. an exchange-traded fund sponsor and asset manager, today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed public offering of shares of its common stock by the Company and certain of its stockholders. The number of shares to be offered by the stockholders has not yet been determined but the Company intends to issue up to one million new shares.
BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering.
When available, a copy of the preliminary prospectus may be obtained from: BofA Merrill Lynch, Attn: Prospectus Department, 4 World Financial Center, New York, NY 10080, Email: dg.prospectus_requests@baml.com; and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attn: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014, Tel: 866-718-1649, Email: prospectus@morganstanley.com.
A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.
About WisdomTree
WisdomTree Investments, Inc. is a New York-based exchange-traded fund ("ETF") sponsor and asset manager. WisdomTree currently offers 47 ETFs across Equities, Currency Income, Fixed Income and Alternatives asset classes. WisdomTree also licenses its indexes to third parties for proprietary products and offers a platform to promote the use of WisdomTree ETFs in 401(k) plans. WisdomTree currently has approximately $11.5 billion in ETF assets under management.
WisdomTree(R) is the marketing name for WisdomTree Investments, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiaries WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc. and WisdomTree Retirement Services, Inc. WisdomTree Asset Management, Inc. is a registered investment advisor and is the investment advisor to the WisdomTree Trust and the WisdomTree ETFs. The WisdomTree Trust is a registered open-end investment company. Each WisdomTree ETF is a series of the WisdomTree Trust. WisdomTree Retirement Services, Inc. supports the use of the WisdomTree ETFs in retirement plans by financial professionals.
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