Intriguing IPOs: UL Solutions Inc. (ULS)

A 130 year old "business" finally going public.

Portrait of Sir Francis Bacon, artist unknown, circa 1590, oil on canvas (Gainsborough Old Hall)

The IPO process is typically reserved for younger companies—corporate whipper-snappers looking to grow their budding business or cash out the seed capital that preceded their debut on the public markets. It’s rare these days that a company going public was founded the same year as the Chicago World Fair.*

UL Solutions Inc.’s (NYSE: ULS) origins come from the planning and design of the 1893 event, and the company has become a ubiquitous, albeit hidden, part of our everyday lives.

A business with a 130-year history clearly has some staying power, and its IPO appears to have some things investors would like. As with so many other IPOs, though, the devil is in the details. In this case, a really weird corporate structure.

Here’s my knee-jerk reaction to UL’s prospectus.

*(Sidebar: I can’t mention the Chicago World Fair without mentioning The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. It is simultaneously a great true crime story and a meticulous recount of the Fair’s planning. I don’t know how the two blended into a good read, but it worked.)

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