The transaction saw contributions from the company and existing shareholders, with shares sold at a price of USD 31 each, surpassing the initially suggested range.
Based on outstanding shares alone, the IPO valued Circle at about USD 6.9 billion; however, when fully diluted—taking into account options, restricted units, and warrants—the valuation climbed to around USD 8.1 billion. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. underwrote the offering.
IPO Sparked Strong Demand from Institutions
Circle initially planned to offer 24 million shares priced between USD 24 and USD 26, but increased its share count to 14.8 million, with existing shareholders contributing an additional 19.2 million shares.
Institutional investors showed considerable interest in the offering. ARK Investment Management, a technology-focused firm, expressed potential interest in acquiring up to USD 150 million worth of shares. According to sources cited by Yahoo Finance, BlackRock Inc. plans to purchase approximately 10% of the IPO shares.
BlackRock currently manages a government money market fund that holds a significant portion of Circle’s USDC stablecoin reserves. As of March-end, USDC accounted for roughly 29% of the stablecoin market based on CoinMarketCap data.
Circle’s public listing marks a shift from its earlier plans to merge with a special purpose acquisition company in a deal that would have valued it at USD 9 billion. In a prior funding round, the firm was last estimated to be worth USD 7.7 billion according to PitchBook data.
The IPO comes as US Congress considers legislation aimed at establishing clearer regulatory guidelines for stablecoins.