Renewed Interest in IPOs: Emdeon and Starwood

With the rising equities markets, we are definitely seeing renewed interest in IPOs. Here’s a look at Wednesday’s offerings:

Emdeon (NYSE: EM): I call this the “Obama IPO.” The reason is that Emdeon operates the largest platform to handle healthcare transactions (billing, collections, ePrescriptions and so on). And, with the pressures for cost cutting, Emdeon should be a big beneficiary.

The company sold 23.7 million shares at $15.50 each (raising $367 million). The stock price rose to $16.52 in Wednesday’s trading.

Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD): This is a REIT that is focused on buying up debt in commercial real estate properties. In fact, the prospectus considers the next five years to be a huge opportunity for the space.

However, the main attraction of the deal is the team, which includes CEO Barry Sternlicht. Over the past 18 years, he has structured more than 300 investment transactions (with a total value over $40 billion). He was also the CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (NYSE: HOT).

The Starwood IPO was able to raise $810 million.