US real estate brokerage backed by Japan’s SoftBank rises in public debut

美房地产经纪公司Compass上市首日上涨

软银投资的Compass上市首日上涨，打消了其IPO筹资规模低于预期引发的不安。

SoftBank-backed Compass rose in its Wall Street debut, shaking off earlier signs of investor caution about the brokerage’s ambitions to disrupt real estate sales after raising less than expected from its initial public offering.

软银(SoftBank)投资的Compass在华尔街上市首日上涨，摆脱了早前投资者对其颠覆房地产销售的雄心持谨慎态度的迹象。此前该公司首次公开发行(IPO)的募资规模低于预期。

Shares for the New York-based company closed their first trading day at $20.15 on Thursday, up 12 per cent from the $18 mark at which the brokerage priced shares the previous evening. Compass raised $450m in its IPO, only about half of what it had anticipated.

周四，这家总部位于纽约的公司的股票在其首个交易日收于每股20.15美元，较前一晚18美元的发行价上涨12%。Compass在IPO中募资4.5亿美元，仅为预期的一半左右。

On Wednesday, the company had reduced the number of shares it planned to sell by almost a third and slashed the top of its price range by more than a quarter.

周三，该公司将计划发售的股票数量减少了近三分之一，并将发行价的区间上限削减了逾四分之一。

The shares’ closing price on their first trading day gave Compass a market capitalisation of $7.8bn, an increase from its last private valuation of $6.5bn two years ago.

上市首日的收盘价令Compass市值达到78亿美元，高于其两年前65亿美元的私募估值。

“I feel great about the outcome,” said Robert Reffkin, chief executive of Compass. “The goal was not to have a certain price or a certain valuation, it was to have a capital raise that would bring dollars into the company.”

“我对结果非常满意。”Compass首席执行官罗伯特•雷夫金(Robert Reffkin)说，“我们的目标原本就不是达到某个股价或估值，而是通过募资为公司带来资金。”

Compass tries to differentiate itself from other real estate brokers through a digital marketing and analytics platform for its agents, which has helped catapult the company’s valuation into a range typically reserved for large tech start-ups. The company had more than 19,000 agents on its platform at the end of last year and claims 4 per cent of the US homebuying market.

Compass试图通过为其经纪人提供数字营销和分析平台，使自己有别于其他房地产经纪公司，这帮助该公司的估值跃升至通常只有大型科技初创企业才能到达的范围。截至去年年底，该公司的平台上有逾1.9万名经纪人，该公司的业务占到美国住宅房地产市场的4%。

Unlike other real estate tech companies, such as Opendoor, which charges a service fee for buying and flipping homes, Compass has a more traditional business model, taking a cut of the commission when an agent sells a house.

与对购买和翻修房屋收取服务费的Opendoor等其他房地产科技公司不同，Compass的商业模式更为传统——在经纪人售出房屋时收取佣金。

Compass’s revenues increased 56 per cent to $3.7bn last year, while its net losses narrowed to $270m, from $388m in 2019.

去年，Compass的营收增长56%，至37亿美元；净亏损从2019年的3.88亿美元降至2.7亿美元。

The company’s public debut comes amid a boom in the US housing market as Americans trade in city apartments for suburban homes as a result of the pandemic. Average home prices rose at their fastest rate since 2006 in January, according to S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller indices, a measure of US home prices.

该公司上市之际，美国房地产市场一片繁荣，受疫情影响，美国人纷纷将城市公寓置换成郊区住宅。衡量美国房价的标准普尔Corelogic Case-Shiller指数(S&P Corelogic Case-Shiller indices)显示，今年1月，美国平均房价出现了2006年以来的最快上涨。

Flush with $1.5bn in venture capital funds raised before its IPO, Compass has been able to build out its agent base rapidly, in part by acquiring several independent brokerages.

Compass在IPO前获得了15亿美元的风投资金，因此得以通过收购独立房地产经纪公司等方式，迅速建立自己的经纪人团队。

Other brokers have accused the company of using its cash to poach agents with extravagant compensation packages. Some who joined Compass later complained that these early compensation packages created a misleading appearance about what they would earn.

其他房地产经纪公司指责Compass利用其财力，高薪挖走经纪人。一些加入了Compass的经纪人后来抱怨说，早期的高薪令他们对自己的未来收入产生了误解。

Compass said in a prospectus that its retention rate among “principal agents” — team leaders or independent agents who together made up about half of its total contractor base — exceeded 90 per cent in the past three years. But analysts have warned that competitors with better deals could lure them away.

Compass在一份招股说明书中表示，过去3年，该公司“主要经纪人”（占其经纪人总数约一半的团队领导或独立经纪人）的留任率逾90%。但分析师警告称，开出更好待遇的竞争对手可能会把他们吸引走。

“Real estate agents, they’re independent contractors, they’re entrepreneurs,” said Mike DelPrete, an independent real estate tech adviser. “The moment Compass becomes less lucrative to agents, there’s a big retention problem.”

“房地产经纪人是独立承包商，是企业家。”独立房地产技术顾问迈克•德尔普雷特(Mike DelPrete)说，“一旦经纪人在Compass赚不到那么多钱，就很难留下。”

Reffkin will retain almost half of the company’s voting power after the offering through his ownership of class C shares, which carry 20 votes each. As Reffkin’s compensation package vests over time, he is set to gain majority control of the company.

雷夫金持有的C类股票每股有20份投票权，因此，IPO后他将保留近一半的投票权。随着雷夫金的薪酬待遇逐步落实，他将获得该公司的多数股权。

SoftBank’s Vision Fund owned 36.7 per cent of the company’s class A shares, giving it a $2.3bn stake at the offering price.

软银的愿景基金(Vision Fund)持有Compass 36.7%的A类股票，按发行价计算价值23亿美元。

Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays led the Compass public offering.

高盛(Goldman Sachs)、摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)和巴克莱(Barclays)是Compass此次售股的主承销商。

编辑：凌墨