With the largest industrial IPO since 1999, this air-quality giant's stock opens with a bang

By Tomi Kilgore

Madison Air raises $2.2 billion in its IPO, and defense contractor Arxis raises $1.1 billion. Both stocks open with big gains.

Madison Air raises $2.2 billion in the largest IPO this year, and the largest from the industrial sector since 1999.

The market for initial public offerings has been reignited with a bang, as the shares of two companies valued at more than $10 billion started trading on Thursday.

It's good timing, as the companies went public on a day that both the S&P 500 index SPX and Nasdaq Composite Index COMP were trading at record highs, to put investors in a buying mood. Both IPOs priced after Wednesday's close at the top end of their expected ranges.

One of those IPOs, from indoor air quality giant Madison Air Solutions (MAIR), raised $2.23 billion, the most so far this year, and the largest from the industrial sector since 1999, when United Parcel Service (UPS) went public, according to data provided by Renaissance Capital.

The IPO of 82.7 million shares, priced at $27 a share, was positive, as the expectations were for between $25 and $27 a share. With a total post-IPO share count of 488.93 million shares, the pricing values the company at $13.2 billion.

The stock's first trade on the New York Stock Exchange was at $32, or 18.5% above the IPO price, at 12:43 p.m. Eastern. It pared some gains to close up 17.6%, to value that company at $15.5 billion.

In the other IPO, Arxis (ARXS) raised an upsized $1.13 billion as it sold 40.5 million shares at $28 each, compared with expectations of selling 37.74 million shares between $25 and $28 a share. The pricing valued the maker of components used by defense and commercial aerospace companies at $11.24 billion.

Arxis shares opened at 12:19 p.m. on the Nasdaq at $38, or 35.7% above its IPO price. The stock closed up 38.4%, to imply a market capitalization around $14.8 billion.

Before those pricings, there had only been five IPO pricings in the past month, according to Renaissance Capital data, with the largest IPO being $840 million on March 19 from Janus Living.

The Renaissance IPO ETF IPO has surged 14.1% so far in April through Wednesday, putting it on track to snap a seven-month losing streak in which it tumbled 15.9%. In comparison, the S&P 500 has gained 7.6% in April, after rising 1.1% over the previous seven months.

Madison Air operates in markets including data centers, semiconductor fabrication, manufacturing, healthcare and residential HVAC - heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Coincidentally, shares of some other HVAC companies took a hit ahead of the IPO pricing. Carrier Global's stock (CARR) dropped 9.5% to pace the S&P 500's decliners on Wednesday, and Lennox International shares (LII) fell 6.9%.

"It's not uncommon for investors to pare down holdings of competitors when a new issue hits the market, often to gain exposure to a faster-growing company without increasing sector concentration," Renaissance analyst Matthew Kennedy told MarketWatch. Whether that's what happened on Wednesday with Carrier and Lennox shares, he said, there are too many variables to make a direct connection.

On Thursday, Carrier's stock bounced 2% while Lennox shares fell 1%.

Carrier and Lennox did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Madison Air's net sales for 2025 jumped 27.3% from a year ago to $3.34 billion, while Carrier's sales fell 3.3% to $21.75 billion. Lennox's sales were down 2.7% to $5.2 billion. Madison Air had a net profit of $97 million in 2025, down from $175.2 million in 2024.

Meanwhile, Arxis booked net revenue of $1.59 billion in 2025, up from $743 million in 2024. The company swung to a net income of $46 million last year from a loss of $55.5 million the year before.

Both IPOs were led by Wall Street heavyweights. For Madison Air, the joint lead book-running managers were Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Jefferies and Wells Fargo Securities, while Goldman, Morgan Stanley and Jefferies were the bookrunning managers for Arxis's IPO.

-Tomi Kilgore

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04-16-26 1955ET