Bowhead Specialty announces launch of initial public offering

Bowhead Specialty announced the launch of its initial public offering of 6,666,667 shares of its common stock pursuant to a registration statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The initial public offering price is expected to be between $14 and $16 per share. The company expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,000,000 shares of its common stock at the initial offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. The company has applied to have its common stock approved for listing, subject to official notice of issuance, on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BOW.”

The principal purposes of this offering are to increase the company’s capitalization and financial flexibility, create a public market for its common stock and thereby enable access to the public equity markets for the company and its stockholders. The company intends to use the net proceeds received from this offering to make capital contributions to its insurance company subsidiary to grow its business and for other general corporate purposes.

J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company are acting as joint lead bookrunning managers of the proposed offering and as representatives of the underwriters. Citizens JMP, RBC Capital Markets and Dowling & Partners Securities, LLC are acting as joint bookrunning managers and Siebert Williams Shank is acting as co-manager for the proposed offering.

Bowhead Specialty is a specialty insurer/MGA providing casualty and professional liability products, which was formed in late 2020 with financial backing from Gallatin Point Capital, American Family Insurance, and its management. The company reported $508 million in written premiums last year and $16 million in net income.

The company is targeting a valuation of about $491 million.