TPG IPO: stock priced and will start trading on the Nasdaq in a big test for the 2022 market

With markets shaky and newly public companies slumping since the start of the year, private-equity giant TPG is going forward with its IPO.

The asset-management firm priced shares at $29.50, the midpoint of its range, and is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Thursday under the ticker symbol TPG.

This comes as another highly-anticipated Nasdaq debut was abruptly pulled at the last minute. JustWorks, the HR software company with an estimated valuation of $2 billion, said (January 28, 2022) it has decided to delay its IPO “due to market conditions at this time.”

After coming off a strong 2021—fueled in part by pandemic-winning tech stocks—the Nasdaq Composite is down by about 4% since the start of the year. Many companies that have debuted in January have fared especially poorly, although there have been some exceptions. Newly listed biotech companies Vigil Neuroscience and Amylyx Pharmaceuticals both saw shares rally this week after somewhat anticlimactic IPOs last Friday.

As for TPG, investors have been generally enthusiastic about equity capital since the pandemic recovery began. However, as the Wall Street Journal points out, Thursday’s IPO is being closely watched for signs of whether that trend will continue. Blackstone, another publicly traded private-equity firm, has seen its value skyrocket since early 2020, but its share price peaked in November and has mostly been on a downward slope since.