WaterBridge Infrastructure signage during the company’s IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
(Bloomberg) — WaterBridge Infrastructure LLC shares rose 14% in their trading debut after the water infrastructure company raised $634 million in an initial public offering that priced at the top end the marketed range.
Most Read from Bloomberg
The stock closed at $22.83 apiece on Wednesday, compared with the IPO price of $20. The shares were marketed for $17 to $20 each in an upsized offering of 31.7 million shares.
The trading gives WaterBridge a market value of about $2.7 billion, based on the outstanding shares. The Houston-based company is backed by private equity firm Five Point Infrastructure LLC, which was set to still hold a controlling interest after the offering.
Funds and accounts managed by Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC indicated an interest in buying as much as $120 million worth of stock, filings showed. WaterBridge plans to use some of the net proceeds from the offering to pay down a portion of its debt and buy part of a stake held by Elda River Capital LLC, according to the filings.
WaterBridge is one of the biggest water handlers in the US shale patch, with about 2,500 miles of pipelines that move water from active oil wells to other locations, including saltwater disposal wells, where the waste is injected back underground.
With Permian Basin wells generating about five barrels of wastewater for every barrel of crude, the water handling business is becoming an increasingly important component of oil production. Water disposal activity in the Permian has jumped more than sevenfold over the past 15 years, according to industry consultant Enverus.
WaterBridge’s IPO comes roughly a month after Western Midstream Partners LP agreed to acquire Aris Water Solutions Inc. for about $1.5 billion, bringing increased attention to the sector.
“Timing couldn’t be better,” Chief Executive Officer Jason Long said Wednesday in a phone interview. “It’s top of mind to everybody right now.” WaterBridge previously explored an IPO that could have valued the company at more than $1 billion, Bloomberg reported in 2018.
LandBridge Co., which also counts Long as its CEO and which shares other top managers with WaterBridge, went public in June 2024, raising $283.5 million. The company — also backed by Five Point — has seen its shares more than triple from its IPO price of $17.
WaterBridge recorded a pro forma net loss of $112.3 million last year on revenue of $662.2 million, according to the prospectus.
