ADVERTISEMENT

Ping Identity Gains 34% in Trading Debut After $188 Million IPO

Ping Identity Gains 32% in Trading Debut After $188 Million IPO

(Bloomberg) -- Ping Identity Holding Corp. rose in its trading debut after raising $188 million in its U.S. initial public offering.

The software company’s shares rose 34% to $20.11 Thursday in New York trading, giving the company a market value of $1.56 billion. The software company sold 12.5 million shares Wednesday after marketing them for $14 to $16 apiece.

Software firms are among the best performers of companies going public this year. The Denver-based company is debuting on the same day as Datadog Inc. That company, according to people with knowledge of the matter, received a takeover offer from Cisco Systems Inc. within the past few weeks.

Ping, backed by Vista Equity Partners, counts Netflix Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc among its customers. Its software powers secure log-in, multi-factor authentication and other security services for businesses.

“I think the investors really appreciated the customer that Ping serves and the importance of security,” Andre Durand, Ping’s founder and chief executive officer, said in an interview.

Ping is growing rapidly in Europe and Australia and is also investing in Southeast Asia, he said.

The offering by Ping was led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., Royal Bank of Canada and Citigroup Inc. The shares are trading on the New York Stock Exchange Thursday under the symbol PING.

To contact the reporter on this story: Crystal Tse in New York at ctse44@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Liana Baker at lbaker75@bloomberg.net, Michael Hytha, Matthew Monks

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.