For the second time in three years, The Fortegra Group Inc. called off plans for an initial public offering the day before it was expected to hit the market.
The Jacksonville-based specialty insurance company said in a Feb. 7 news release it withdrew its registration statement for the IPO “due to prevailing market conditions and the high value Tiptree Inc. and Warburg Pincus LLC place on Fortegra and its growth prospects.”
Connecticut-based Tiptree acquired Fortegra, which was then publicly traded, for $218 million in 2014.
Tiptree owns about 73% of Fortegra and investment firm Warburg bought a 24% stake in 2021 after Fortegra withdrew its previous IPO filing.
Fortegra filed plans on April 21 to sell 8.3 million shares at $15 to $17 each but pulled the stock sale off the market when Tiptree couldn’t get the price it wanted.
Since then, Tiptree officials have repeatedly said they intended to try again to take Fortegra public and it filed a new registration statement for an IPO in November 2023.
Fortegra announced terms for the IPO on Jan. 29, indicating it was ready to bring the deal to the market. The company said it would sell 18 million shares at $15 to $18 each.
As it announced the withdrawal of the IPO registration Feb. 7, Fortegra did not say anything about another attempt at going public.
“Tiptree and Warburg remain committed to supporting Fortegra as it continues to execute its growth strategy,” the news release said.
Tiptree said in a Jan. 29 SEC filing that Fortegra had revenue of $1.59 billion in 2023, up 28% from 2022.
Fortegra’s adjusted net income rose 38% to $115.7 million.
Fortegra’s latest IPO filing said the company had more than 1,100 employees in 25 offices in nine countries as of Sept. 30.