Defense tech firm Lyntris targets $2.5 billion valuation in US IPO
Aug 10 : Lyntris is targeting a valuation of up to $2.53 billion in its U.S. initial public offering, the Trive Capital-backed company said on Monday, making it the latest to test strong investor appetite for defense listings.
The Falls Church, Virginia-based Lyntris and selling stockholders are seeking up to $528 million by offering 24 million shares priced between $19 and $22 apiece.
A flurry of defense companies has pressed ahead with their listing plans since April as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has boosted investor appetite.
Arxis, AEVEX, Applied Aerospace & Defense, Doncasters, and HawkEye 360 have debuted in New York since April.
Trive Capital combined portfolio companies Accelint and Vitesse in May to form Lyntris. The combined firm has bulked through 12 acquisitions since 2018.
"M&A-driven companies can appeal to investors since it's a fairly straightforward story: grow through acquisitions and improve margins by cutting backoffice expenses and deleveraging," said Matt Kennedy, senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.
Lyntris makes battlefield sensors and software for the U.S. and its allies. It is involved in more than 200 active defense programs as of December 31, with no individual program accounting for over 7 per cent of revenue, it said.
Its backlog more than doubled to $923.9 million as of June 30 from a year earlier.
"The growing backlog is a key selling point. Also, most of their products have a strong position in customer supply chains," Kennedy said.
Lyntris reported a net loss of $13 million on revenue of $241 million in the six months ended June 30, compared with a net loss of $9.7 million on revenue of $179.1 million a year earlier.
Evercore ISI, Citigroup and Guggenheim Securities are lead book-running managers. Lyntris will list on the NYSE under the symbol "LYNX."
