- Dun & Bradstreet, a data company that was founded in 1841, went public – again – on Wednesday, raising $1.7 billion.
- The New Jersey-based company spent the last 16 months as a private company, swapping out leadership, strategy, and technology, president Stephen Daffron told Business Insider.
- Now, after an all-virtual roadshow, the company will pay off debt and invest more in technology.
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One of Stephen Daffron’s golden retrievers could be forgiven for thinking he was part of important conversations – his moniker sounds like the first half of a company name that raised $1.7 billion on Wednesday.
Duncan hopped on his owner’s lap while the president of Dun & Bradstreet participated in a video investor presentation in the leadup to the firm’s initial public offering.
“It made it a little more personal,” Daffron said. A remote roadshow “puts more pressure on the bankers, which isn’t a bad thing. The virtual roadshows make the bankers earn their money.”
Dun & Bradstreet’s recent all-virtual roadshow re-introduced the Short Hills, New Jersey-based data company to the market after 16 months’ absence. In 2018, an investor group led by Cannae Holdings, CC Capital, and funds of Thomas H. Lee Partners took the company private in a $5.4 billion cash deal.
Since its February 2019 privatization, the company, founded in 1841, has focused on revamping its leadership, strategy, and technology, Daffron told Business Insider after he wrapped up at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
“We went private under [chairman William Foley]’s leadership to change the direction of the company, from a company that was iconic but had a somewhat tarnished reputation of late to a company that was leading in the digital environment,” Daffron said.
Dun & Bradstreet returned Wednesday as a NYSE-listed company. Cannae and subsidiaries of two other investors, Black Knight and CC Capital Partners, agreed to invest $400 million as part of the offering.
The company first marketed almost 66 million shares at $19-$21, before ultimately selling 78.3 million shares at $22 each.
The upsized offering underscores companies’ need for data – Dun & Bradstreet works with 135,000 groups globally, including 90% of the Fortune 500 – and investors’ search for profitability. In the first quarter, the company inked $41.5 million in net income on $385 million of revenue, compared with a $228 million loss in the first quarter of 2019.
Dun & Bradstreet has data on 360 million businesses, from foot traffic to credit scores. The company saw an uptick in interest in its supply chain risk management business when the pandemic started upending factories in China and global shipping routes, Daffron said.
With the money it raised from the IPO, Daffron said Dun & Bradstreet will look to pay down its $4 billion debt and invest further in technology.
The IPO market is picking back up again after a COVID-19-induced pause. In a Tuesday report, Renaissance Capital said 39 IPOs raised $15 billion in the second quarter, despite the slowest April and May since the financial crisis. In the second quarter of 2019, 62 IPOs raised $25 billion.
In June, the IPO window sprung open, the firm said, with activity largely driven by healthcare companies, Renaissance’s research showed.
Goldman Sachs and Bank of America led Dun & Bradstreet’s offering, along with JPMorgan and Barclays.
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