Banks ran their safest IPO playbooks this year. Investors say it backfired. – The information

It seemed like a surefire way to meet investor demand in a tough market: Instacart lined up a group of existing and new investors, from Sequoia Capital to Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, to raise up to $400 million, or 60% of the stock Buy shares The company plans to sell as part of its initial public offering in September. In the days before the IPO, the bankers involved told investors that they had 23 times more stock orders than there were shares available.

And yet, just a week into its long-awaited life as a public company, Instacart fell below its IPO price. As the company prepares to report its first earnings report on Wednesday afternoon, Instacart shares remain in crisis. Its weak trading performance, as well as that of other newly minted listed companies such as footwear company Birkenstock, have forced bankers and investors to reckon with the fact that the series of initial public offerings that were supposed to reopen the market after an 18-month freeze instead failed.