Profrac’s oil services below-range IPO shows market still idling

OIL services firm Profrac Holding Corp has raised Us$288mil (Rm1.3bil) in an initial public offering (IPO), pricing its shares below a marketed range as new listings in the US continue to fall short of goals.

The listing comes as investors are reeling from falling share prices, and as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to rattle global energy markets.

Last week, contact lens maker Bausch + Lomb Corp fell short of its fundraising goals in the second-biggest US IPO of the year.

Profrac, based in Willow Park, Texas, sold 16 million shares Thursday for US$18 (RM79) each after marketing them for US$21 (RM93) to US$24 (RM105), according to a statement.

The company, also with locations in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, provides pumps and other services for hydraulic fracturing with a focus on low-emission gear, including some with electric motors.

The market for oilfield services in north America is growing hotter as Russia’s war tightens global crude supplies.

Last month Halliburton Co, the biggest provider of fracking work, predicted North American explorers would boost spending by 35% this year, up from a pre-war forecast of 25%.

Often the first to feel the pain in an oil-price bust and the last to benefit from a boom, oilfield servicers are looking to cash in on the global energy rally after many were forced into bankruptcy during the coronavirus pandemic.

Schlumberger, the world’s biggest oil-services provider, has said the energy industry is on pace to repeat or surpass the heady days of 2008, when crude topped US$145 (RM637) a barrel and drilling profits soared.