Taking Our Clients All the Way to the Finish Line: From the first $25 million to a billion dollar NYSE IPO
Transaction: In August 2006, Burnham closed the first of two equity rounds totaling $40 million for Xinyuan Real Estate. Not only did this regional developer of middle-class condominium communities in China want to raise money to expand its operations, but it wanted to find the right partners to provide ongoing support for that expansion, with an eye towards an eventual IPO.
The Burnham Solution: To help Xinyuan prepare for the capital raise process, Burnham, among other things, helped Xinyuan find a CFO by introducing them to a bilingual CPA with public company experience and advised Xinyuan to hire a Big Four accounting firm to increase foreign investors’ confidence in its numbers.
After running a competitive process, reaching out to over 80 companies and funds in Europe, North America and Asia, Burnham found multiple bidders for the equity stake. The investors that Burnham helped Xinyuan select were Sam Zell’s Equity International and a partnered fund. Sam Zell is best known for his recent $38 billion sale of Equity Office Properties, the announced $3.8 billion going-private transaction with Tribune Co. and his role in Homex Development Corp. Thanks largely to his partnership, Homex has grown from a $120 million builder of middle-class homes in Mexico in 2002 to a $3.4 billion public company today. With these new partners, Xinyuan has already had subsequent investment rounds, executed on its expansion plans, and on December 12, 2007 raised $225 million in its NYSE IPO, with a valuation over $1 billion.