Electrical equipment maker Forgent Power raises $1.51 billion in US IPO

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Electrical equipment maker Forgent Power Solutions FPS.N said on Wednesday it had raised $1.51 billion in its U.S. initial public offering.

The Minnesota-headquartered company and some of its existing shareholders sold 56 million shares priced at $27 apiece in the IPO, compared with its targeted range of $25 to $29, giving it a potential valuation of about $8.22 billion.

Forgent designs and manufactures electrical distribution equipment for data centers, power grids and energy-intensive industrial facilities.

A steadier market backdrop has fueled companies across sectors to test investor demand for new listings again, after a prolonged government shutdown in October forced many to shelve their plans.

"As many as eight IPOs are lined up" for this week, said Bill Smith, CEO of Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs.

"If all of them price, it would mark the IPO market's most active week since 2021," Smith said.

Jennifer Garner's Once Upon a Farm and Bob's Discount Furniture are also expected to debut this week.

Forgent has been focusing on high-growth markets such as data centers, as tech companies, including OpenAI, invest billions in new facilities to meet the soaring computing demands of cloud services and AI workloads.

The company is scheduled to list on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday under the ticker symbol "FPS".

Goldman Sachs, Jefferies and Morgan Stanley are the joint lead book-running managers for the offering.