The IPO shows that Wall Street's appetite for fossil fuel assets remains strong even as investors grow more concerned about environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG).
A busy IPO week in February offered hope to companies planning to go public, as solar tech firm Nextracker Inc raised $638 million in this year's largest U.S. deal. But advisors remain cautious after stocks sold off in recent weeks. Nextracker, founded by entrepreneur Brigham Ben ("Bud") Brigham in 2017, mines, refines and transports sand used by shale drillers to help break apart rock and release hydrocarbons, a process known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Reuters was the first to report last year that Atlas was preparing for an IPO which could value the company at $2 billion to $3 billion. Atlas shares are scheduled to start trading on Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "AESI." Goldman Sachs & Co, BofA Securities and Piper Sandler are the lead underwriters for the IPO. (Reporting by Echo Wang in New York and Anirban Chakroborti in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Richard Chang)
E.Wang@thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))