The news that Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts (KKR news) and Bain Capital want to take HCA public to raise as much as $3 billion generated a lot of headlines. There are indeed many private equity (private equity news) firms yearning for a rich market to emerge that would allow them to finally exit some investments. Toys "R" Us, also owned by KKR and Bain, may also be mulling an offering.

However, Reuters notes that private equity-backed IPOs (IPO news) have lagged overall initial public offering performance in the United States, citing data from Thomson Reuters. A good example is Apollo's Metals USA Holdings Corp, which was able to price its shares 10.5 percent above the midpoint of the expected range and sold more shares than anticipated. The bad news, however, was that the stock tanked 8.6 percent on its first day of trading.

Are the markets somehow now conditioned to pooh-pooh private equity backed offerings? Perhaps not yet. But you could easily see a bias settle in that has everyone convinced that the performance will be bad, making all of this a self-fulfilling prophecy. There used to be a lot of games the underwriters played to goose a stock in the after-market, but not anymore. 

For more:
- here's the article

Related Articles:
KKR, Bain aim for HCA IPO
Apollo aims to trade publically
More private equity deals for retailers coming?
KKR files to list on NYSE
Private equity funds struggle with dry powder
SeaWorld: A PR hit for Blackstone