Dropbox Takes the Stage as the First Big-Name IPO of 2018

​The past week included two high-level events and another billion-dollar IPO: Albertson's withdrawn IPO filing, Dropbox's IPO announcement, and the initial public offering of Columbia Bank New Jersey. 

• At the beginning of last week, Boise-based retail grocery chain Albertsons, owned and operated by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, tentatively filed for its initial public offering. Albertsons has been entertaining an IPO for some time and more recently to compete with Amazon's entering into the retail grocery market with its acquisition of Whole Foods last fall. However, on February 20th, the firm withdrew its initial public offering filing. The same day, Albertson's agreed to purchase the remnants of Rite Aid, Inc. (NYSE: RAD). A few years ago, the drug store chain tried to merge with Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA) but only sold roughly 2,000 stores and three distribution centers to Walgreens for a combined $4.38 billion. The proposed $24 billion merger between Albertsons and the remainder of Rite Aid would allow Albertsons to begin trading publicly on the NYSE.

• On Tuesday, Columbia Bank New Jersey (NASDAQ: CLBK) completed its initial public offering. The regional bank and mutual holding company operates almost fifty branches in New Jersey. The company, currently valued at $1.06 billion, successfully raised $433 million in its minority offering. The IPO proceeds are intended to redeem $50 million in trust-preferred securities. The bank's target market includes the State of New Jersey and the suburbs surrounding the metropolises of New York and Philadelphia.
  

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• On February 23rd, Dropbox, a private firm supported by Y Combinator, Sequoia Capital, Accel, and T. Rowe Price, officially filed for its initial public offering on the NASDAQ (ticker symbol is tentatively planned to be DBX). The $10 billion "unicorn" will look to raise $500 million. Certainly, one of the largest tech IPOs in the last few years, Dropbox is the first big-name IPO of 2018. Many have speculated Dropbox's long-awaited IPO - the firm is overdue for its IPO since it has existed for over ten years whereas the average VC-backed firm has an IPO after eight years - could create an IPO domino effect with other big-name unicorns such as Uber, AirBnB, and WeWork. One of Dropbox's main competitors, Box, went public in 2015. Box was valued at $2.4 billion and now has a market cap of $3.2 billion.