Dr. Dennis Gillings, who started Quintiles in a trailer more than 30 years ago, rings the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange today to celebrate the giant’s return to public markets.
Stephen Wiehe, who led SciQuest (Nasdaq: SQI) through a similar private-to-public Odyssey, recalls the “ringing bell” feeling.
“Ringing the NASDAQ Opening Bell in April 2011 was both a proud and humbling experience for me,” Wiehe tells The Skinny.
“It was an honor to represent SciQuest at such an important event for the company and recognize the contributions of the people that help to make us unique and successful – our customers, employees and stakeholders.”
Quintiles (NYSE: Q) pulled off the biggest IPO in Triangle history on Thursday in an offering that generated some $950 million for the company, Gillings and investors.
The company sent several top executives to New York for its return to public markets after a decade as a private firm. Gillings’ ringing the bell today caps the publicity blitz, which included CEO Tom Pike going live for an interview at CNBC.
Quintiles, the world’s largest life science services company with a market cap of $5.5 billion based on its IPO, started private, went public, returned to private hands and now is back on the Street – subject to the whims and criticisms of analysts and the pressure to deliver results on a quarterly basis. Gillings had taken the company private in large part to escape that pressure so he could focus on long-term investments and growth strategy.
SciQuest, with a market cap of $534 million, is far smaller than Quintiles yet has proved to be successful in its own ways. And Wiehe is forecasting 30 percent revenue growth this year.
He, too, has led SciQuest through an interesting private-to-public saga.
SciQuest launched in the days of the “dot com” boom and went public.
Wiehe joined SciQuest as CEO in 2001 and refocused the firm’s business to develop an online procurement services firm, offering its software through a software-as-a-service platform. He took the firm private in 2004.
Then came the decision to go public once more, a result being Wiehe and other SciQuest execs sharing the spotlight as the opening bell rang.
It’s something he won’t likely ever forget.
The Skinny suspects Dr. Gillings will savor the moment as well.
His company has come a long way indeed from that humble trailer launch.
